COVID-19: CBN Urges Banks To Support Media, Aviation Industries

The Central Bank of Nigeria has urged banks to support the media and aviation industries via loan disbursements.

The apex bank made the appeal based on the negative economic effects occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

In a series of tweets posted on Tuesday night via CBN’s official Twitter handle, it was disclosed that Emefiele asked the banks to help avert the spate of job losses already being recorded amongst journalists and aviation workers.

#CBN Gov.. Mr. Godwin Emefiele urges banks to do all in their power to support the aviation industry in Nigeria.

— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) August 25, 2020

In order to avoid massive job loses in the media industry due to the lingering pandemic, Gov. Godwin Emefiele urges banks to support the media industry.

— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) August 25, 2020

The media and aviation sectors are among the hardest hit by the pandemic.

Earlier this month, Nigeria’s Air Peace announced that it had sacked about 70 of its pilots and reduced staff salaries by as much as 40%.

In a similar development, the management of Bristow Helicopters Limited also announced the sack of about 100 pilots and engineers. Bristow’s announcement came barely 24 hours after Air Peace’s announcement.

Bristow Helicopters, which provides auxiliary services to the oil and gas industry, also blamed COVID-19 for the decision to lay off the pilots.

For more than two months, local and international flights were suspended, as planes were grounded in a bid to curtail the spread of the deadly Coronavirus. This move, though necessary, understandably affected airlines’ revenues; hence the layoffs.

Local flights only just resumed earlier this month, with international flights expected to follow suit later this week.