FG warns: Foreign airlines selling tickets in dollars will be punished

The Federal Government has vowed to sanction foreign airlines selling tickets to Nigerians, insisting that such practice is a violation of Nigerian laws.

Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, disclosed this to State House Correspondents after the week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at that Presidential Villa in Abuja.

According to the Minister, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had been instructed to swing into action by protecting the interest of Nigerians against reported airlines’ operations malpractices, saying no violator, either high or mighty, would be spared if caught in violation.

Sirika revealed that intelligence reports indicated that some of the airlines are refusing naira and charging their ticket fares in dollars in violation of the nation’s laws, while some others have blocked local travel agencies from accessing their websites for transactions.

“I want to use this opportunity to say that reports are reaching us that some of the airlines are refusing to sell tickets in naira. That is a violation of our local laws, they will not be allowed. The high and the mighty amongst them will be sanctioned if they’re caught doing that. Nation