Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, says the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will soon lift the visa restriction on Nigerian travellers.
Keyamo spoke on Saturday during an interview with the State House media.
According to him, the nation has followed all procedures to enable the lifting of the visa prohibition.
“We have done everything. We have resolved everything. Just wait for the announcement from the UAE government, and that announcement is imminent,” Keyamo said.
“They would announce. I want to give it to them to announce the date.”
The minister went on to say that while he knows the exact date the travel restriction will be officially lifted, he will hold off on making the announcement.
UAE and Nigeria have been engaging in a diplomatic row over flight allocations since 2021.
On December 13, 2021, UAE issued a travel restriction on passengers from Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, citing a surge in the countries’ COVID-19 cases from passengers of the two African nations.
However, it was reported the travel ban might not be unconnected with the diplomatic row between Nigeria and UAE over Air Peace’s flight frequency to the Arab country.
A document announcing the lifting of the restriction was shared by the presidency on March 5. However, President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, clarified that the document was not authorized by the governments of the United Arab Emirates or Nigeria.
The federal government also stated on May 23 that an announcement is going to be made regarding the resolution of the Nigerian visa ban for the United Arab Emirates.
Published by Ejoh Caleb
