The presidency has clarified that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has not removed the visa restriction on Nigerians.
Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, made this announcement on Tuesday.
“UAE has not resumed visa issuance to Nigerians. The document in circulation is not authorized either by the Nigerian government or the UAE,” Onanuga said.
In a statement on his official account, Onanuga explained that the document claiming the restriction had been lifted was not authorized by the Nigerian or UAE governments.
Onanuga’s statement came after he shared a document on social media stating that the UAE had lifted the visa application ban for Nigerians, ending a two-year diplomatic dispute.
Since 2021, the UAE and Nigeria have been involved in a diplomatic dispute over issues related to flight allocations and travel bans.
On December 13, 2021, the UAE imposed travel restrictions on passengers from Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo due to a rise in COVID-19 cases among travelers originating from these African countries.
According to TheCable, the travel ban imposed may be related to the disagreement between Nigeria and UAE regarding Air Peace’s flight schedule to the UAE.
Air Peace had asked for permission to operate three flights per week from Nigeria to Sharjah Airport in the UAE, but only one was approved by the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
The GCAA warned Air Peace that if they stopped flying to Sharjah Airport, they might lose their flight slots, but Air Peace denied this claim.
In response to the treatment of Air Peace in the UAE, the Nigerian government reduced Emirates’ flight slots from 21 to one, causing the Dubai-based airline to suspend all flights to Nigeria.
Although the federal government announced on September 11, 2023, that the UAE had lifted its visa ban on Nigerian travelers, an official from the UAE stated on September 15 of the previous year that the restriction was still in place.
