CBN seeks intervention of banks to curtail gale of unemployment in media, aviation sectors

Chinazor Megbolu |

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is seeking the support of the banks towards curtailing unemployment in both media and aviation sectors.

The CBN hinged its call for support on the need to stabilise the two sectors which it believed were among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

The Governor, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, via CBN’s Tweeter handle, counselled the Nigerian banks to support the media and aviation sectors through loan disbursements.

He said the call is as a result of the menace the pandemic caused across different sectors, which led to decrease in revenue and unemployment.

Emefiele also urged the banks to help avert the spate of job losses already being recorded amongst journalists and aviation workers.

According to him; “the media and aviation sectors are among the hardest hit by the pandemic”.

Emefiele further noted that the media sector mostly relies on advertising revenue to thrive.

“However, in as much as advertising is critical for most companies and organisations, they tend to drastically cut down on their advertising budgets during a recession.

“Unfortunately, Nigeria is in a recession, no thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Meanwhile, the pandemic grounded planes and dried up airlines’ revenues.

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 per cent.

“The sad decision was, of course, taken to protect the company against the adverse effects of Covid-19,” he said.

Emefiele stated further that for over two months, local and international flights were suspended, as planes were grounded towards curtailing the menace of Covid-19 pandemic.

“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 in September,” Emefiele said.

He maintained that he wanted banks to do all they could to avail airlines the financial support in order to bounce back