Yinka Folarin, president of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agents (NANTA), says foreign airlines are still selling tickets in dollars.
Folarin spoke on Radio Mainland 98.3 FM on Saturday, addressing the topic ‘Cross Border Trading: Crime against the Nigerian Economy’.
He said though the association has had “frank” conversations with the government and the airlines to stop the issue, it still persists.
The NANTA president said the development threatens jobs, competition, and excludes 70 percent of Nigerian travel agents.
“It is the most disrespectful thing that can happen to any sovereign country that has a good market,” Folarin said.
“It is very disrespectful. And then we always forget something. We only treat the naira as a means of exchange, but the naira is also a store of the value of the images of our heroes.
“Do you have a 1,000 naira note here? Whose image is on this? And then you come to a market and exclude it from transactions. It’s very disrespectful.”
The NANTA president said there is no need for dollar pricing on tickets anymore, stressing that the naira is stabilising, and rates are closing up.
“There’s liquidity, and there’s transparency with CBN oversight,” he said.
“We are at the point where we should be congratulating the CBN. And where we should be assisting the government.
“What we are asking for in the trade is, even if you want to sell in dollars, at least accommodate the naira. The total exclusion of naira, aside from the fact that it is disrespectful to our sovereign states, excludes 70% of our practitioners — that is is our NANTA members.
“It excludes them, because their own channel and portal of payment does not accommodate dollar payments.
“So the whole thing is anti-competitive against naira, and number two, anti-competitive within the trade. And we don’t want situations where there are job losses and stuff like that.”
Folarin emphasised the “unfair” advantage of overseas travel agents over local agents, questioning the benefit of such practices.
“You have a situation where a travel agent like me sits in Asia or Europe, and he has a better fare for a Nigerian traffic. For example, a Lagos to London ticket is my market. But he has a better fare than I do, and I’m a practitioner in this market, indigenously,” he said.
“What does that serve? It serves nothing. We keep talking to everybody. I have very good relationships with the airlines, and I keep telling them, it serves no purpose.”
The NANTA president also spoke against visa racketeering, saying it is bad for Nigeria’s collective image — urging everyone to work together to eliminate it.(The Cable)
