The United Arab Emirates has lifted an almost two-year ban on Nigerian travellers, a statement from Nigerian officials said on Monday.
Nigeria’s Information Minister Mohammed Idris said that the UAE and Nigeria have reached a deal to remove the visa ban and referred to “updated controls and conditions” that prospective Nigerian visitors to the UAE must abide by.
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Following successful talks and extensive, mutually beneficial negotiations between the Government of the United Arab Emirates and the Government of the Federal Republic of… pic.twitter.com/uXpLenmA6r
— Mohammed Idris, FNIPR (@HMMohammedIdris) July 15, 2024
Those conditions require that Nigerian travellers submit documents proving their identity and showing travel history, among other things, in order to generate a verification number that would then be used to apply for a visa. Applicants 13 years or younger are exempted.
The dispute between both countries arose in 2022 when the UAE accused Nigeria of improper conduct and attempts by its citizens to circumvent visa rules.
It however escalated when Nigeria significantly reduced the number of UAE’s national carrier Emirates from 21 trips a week to just one weekly flight to Nigeria
The move was supposedly in retaliation to UAE’s refusal to allow Nigerian airline Air Peace to operate three weekly flights to Dubai. UAE had only approved one weekly flight.
Around that time, Emirates had suspended flights to Nigeria, citing the Nigerian government’s failure to pay the airline $85 million owed to it.
Nigeria and the UAE have been holding high-level talks, including between President Bola Tinubu and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to resolve the disagreement.
The announcement now ends a 21-month standoff between both countries, as Emirates Airlines is set to resume its flight schedules to Nigeria.
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