Emirates to suspend all Nigeria flights

STORY: Dubai's Emirates airline will suspend all flights to Nigeria from next month, the company said on Thursday (August 18).

The reason is that the carrier has been unable to repatriate funds from Africa's most populous nation.

Nigeria has restricted access to foreign currency for imports and for investors seeking to take out their profits.

That's due to a shortage of dollars.

Nigeria gets about 90% of its foreign exchange from oil, but is struggling to produce due to pipeline theft and years of under-investment.

The International Air Transport Association said in June that Nigeria was withholding $450 million in revenues that international carriers operating in the country had earned.

Emirates had previously warned the government that it could cut flights to Lagos this month.

In a letter it had said $85 million in revenues were stuck in the country - a figure that had been rising by $10 million a month.

But on Thursday the company said it had made no progress in efforts to initiate talks with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention.

A Federal Ministry of Aviation spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Emirates said the suspension would take effect from September 1 adding that it would re-evaluate the decision if the situation over the blocked funds changed in the coming days.