The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has confirmed the removal of Nigeria from its list of countries withholding international airlines’ revenues, marking a significant policy milestone for the country’s aviation and financial sectors.
IATA’s regional vice-president for Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, Kamil Al-Awadhi, announced the development during a press conference at the association’s recent Annual General Meeting (AGM).
“Significant improvements have been made in Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia over the last year, with Nigeria no longer on the list of blocked funds countries,” Al-Awadhi said.
Blocked funds—also referred to as unrepatriated revenues—have long been a point of contention between international carriers and host governments, especially in Africa and parts of the Middle East. As of April 2025, IATA said a total of $1.28 billion remains trapped globally, with Africa and the Middle East accounting for $1.1 billion, or 85 percent of the total.
“Out of that, $919 million is tied up in African countries,” Al-Awadhi said, noting that 29 countries in the region are currently withholding airline revenues.
According to IATA’s data, the top five countries with the highest blocked funds in April 2025 include Mozambique ($205 million), the XAF Zone—comprising Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the
Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon—($191 million), Algeria ($178 million), Lebanon ($142 million), and Angola ($84 million).
Al-Awadhi cautioned that unresolved blocked funds hurt airlines’ operational capacity and, by extension, impact national economies and investor sentiment.
“When airlines are unable to repatriate their funds, it severely impedes their operations and limits the number of markets they can serve,” he said. “Reduced air connectivity hampers countries’ competitiveness, diminishes investor confidence and labels countries as a high-risk place to do business.”
He urged governments to prioritise aviation in their foreign exchange policies, saying, “We call on governments to prioritise aviation in the access to foreign exchange on the basis that air connectivity is a vital key economic catalyst for the country.”
Nigeria’s removal from IATA’s blacklist marks a reversal of years of strained relations between the government and international carriers. In 2023, the country was reportedly the world’s largest holder of blocked airline funds, a consequence of a severe foreign exchange shortfall.
The backlog prompted some international airlines to suspend operations in Nigeria or delist Nigerian travel agents from global booking systems, citing the inability to access proceeds from ticket sales.
In response, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), then under former governor Godwin Emefiele, released $265 million in 2022 to mitigate the crisis. The current administration continued the disbursements, including a $61.64 million tranche to settle arrears and restore confidence.
In March 2024, the CBN announced it had successfully cleared the country’s FX backlog—then estimated at $7 billion—a claim later confirmed by IATA, which stated that 98 per cent of the blocked airlines’ funds had been repatriated.
