麻豆约拍

Last month Emirates Airlines announced it was halting flights to Nigeria 鈥� saying it was owed millions of dollars. The plight of passengers suddenly forced to find creative and expensive ways to travel thousands of miles grabbed the world鈥檚 attention 鈥� and within days of the crisis, Nigeria said it would release some of the money owed to foreign airlines: $265 million.

But the reason WHY the airline took the drastic step actually highlights a more widespread problem for Nigeria: a shortage of dollars to pay for foreign services 鈥� and two competing exchange rates: the official rate and what Nigerians can get on the black market.

This has left the Central Bank of Nigeria 鈥� or CBN 鈥� technically subsidising travellers 鈥� and foreign companies being underpaid for their services.

For Africa Daily, @kasujja speaks with Oluwatosin Olaseinde, an account and money expert who set up Money Africa, a financial literacy platform.

鈥淵ou鈥檙e seeing a higher cost of living, you鈥檙e seeing a reduction in the revenue of the government, so it鈥檚 just a whole lot of different (elements) mixed together in this dance.鈥�