LAGOS, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A senior Nigerian official said on Monday the government has approved 5 billion naira (about 13 million U.S. dollars) as a bailout fund to aviation sector to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on their operations.
Speaking at a hearing by the National Assembly in Abuja, Hadi Sirika, the country's aviation minister, said the aviation industry was too crucial to fail.
According to the minister, the airline operators based in the country would get 4 billion naira while other businesses in the aviation sector would be given 1 billion naira.
He described the sector both in Nigeria and elsewhere as "very important to the economic development of any nation", and the bailout aims to cushion the "sorry state of most of them which has made payment of salaries difficult".
The government intervention is coming after months of airports shutdown earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a report published Monday on local daily the Nation, the International Air Transport Association has estimated that the COVID-19 crisis puts 124,000 Nigerian jobs at risk. Enditem