Debt collecting at scale

Arik and Aero, the top two airlines in Nigeria, were grounded by the
airport authority yesterday for failing to pay airport fees. The same
thing happened for a day in June.

They were back flying today, though with some big delays. I'm glad
they resolved it, because otherwise I would not have been able to get
to Lagos to connect to Kenya this weekend. We got to the airport and
saw the plane, which usually doesn't even arrive until the scheduled
departure time. When we got into the terminal they were already
boarding, so we hurredly got our boarding passes and followed. The
security guard who saw me hurry said I "benefitted from the delay,"
and coupled with the pilot's apology I realized that we had boarded
what was supposed to have been the 1pm flight. It was delayed 4 hrs
and coincided with our flight's scheduled departure time. Either the
check-in people didn't notice or didn't care, but I'm thankful either
way.

The airport "strike" was quickly resolved -- I would guess through
political intervention, not through full payment -- but it highlights
a big deal here: payments. Getting paid late and paying late both
seem to be corporate norms from what I can tell.