An official from the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) declined to confirm the abolition of the 12-month visa requirement for visitors from Nigeria.
The UAE official stated that the temporary visa restrictions placed on travelers from Nigeria are still in effect.
This comes after the Federal Government declared that the two countries had reached a “historic agreement” that opened the way for, among other things, the immediate lifting of the ban on Nigerians attempting to travel to the Gulf country.
The UAE said in an October 2022 notification that it would stop issuing visas to residents of Nigeria and 19 other African nations. No other information was offered.
Flights between the two nations were subsequently suspended last year as a result of the state-owned airlines Emirates and Etihad’s inability to access and repatriate $85 million in trapped funds.
Dubai has become a popular vacation, shopping, and tourism destination for Nigerians in need of a break from the hectic lifestyle at home over the past ten years.
The Federal Government asserted that Dubai has decided to withdraw the embargo after a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and his UAE counterpart, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on Monday, September 11, 2023, in Abu Dhabi. It added that flights between the two nations will start immediately.
“Furthermore, by this historic agreement, both Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines are to immediately resume flight schedules into and out of Nigeria, without any further delay,” said presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale in a statement.
There have been no changes to the Nigeria/UAE travel status to date, a UAE official who spoke to CNN on Friday, September 15, 2023 and requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said.
Remember that Dubai refuted the Federal Government’s position on the aforementioned agreement between the two nations.
According to a statement released by the UAE government on Monday, the two presidents “explored opportunities for further bilateral collaboration” during their conversation with a view to “reinforcing ties between the UAE and Nigeria,” but they said nothing about the easing of the visa ban or the resumption of flights.
Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, stated on Thursday that no timetable for Emirates and Etihad Airlines’ return to fly operations in Nigeria has been established.
Keyamo said that the two nations were finalizing the details of agreements while speaking at the Aviation Africa Summit in Abuja.
“So, we are beginning to work out all the tiny details. I have met with Emirate before I left UAE, and we are working out the details. We cannot say the time frame. Kicking off an airline operation again on a route, does not mean you will go and grab one empty plane sitting in a place,” the Minister said.