Dubai airline Emirates will be suspending all flights to and from Nigeria in September due to an inability to repatriate funds from the country.

The airline issued a statement on Thursday where they explained that despite attempting to open up a dialogue, with an aim to resolve the issue, that they've had no choice but to discontinue flights to the country.

"Therefore, Emirates has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria, effective 1 September 2022, to limit further losses and impact on our operational costs that continue to accumulate in the market," it said in the statement.Emirates have been struggling as Nigeria has restricted access to foreign currency for imports and for investors seeking to repatriate their profits due to a shortage of dollars.Nigeria gets approximately 90% of its foreign exchange from oil, but is struggling to produce due to pipeline theft and years of under-investment.

According to The International Air Transport Association, Nigeria are withholding $450 million in revenue that international carriers operating in the country have earned.Emirates had first sent a letter to the government saying that it may cut flights to Lagos this month because it could not get $85 million stuck in the country as of July. This figure had been rising by $10 million per month.Now, Emirates have decided that they can no longer issue flights to and from Nigeria. The airline have said that they are willing to re-evaluate its decision dependent on whether the situation is resolved in the next few days.