Nigeria President Bola Tinubu has finalised an agreement with the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, which has resulted in the immediate lifting of the visa ban that was placed on Nigerian travellers by the UAE and resumption of flights by Etihad and Emirates Airlines.
This followed the visit of President Bola Tinubu to the emirate on Monday after his participation in the G20 summit in New Delhi, India.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale revealed this in a statement on Monday.
The statement read: “As negotiated between the two Heads of State, this immediate restoration of flight activity, through these two airlines and between the two countries, does not involve any immediate payment by the Nigerian government.
“In recognition of President Tinubu’s economic development diplomacy drive and proposals today presented by President Tinubu to his counterpart, an agreed framework has been established, which will involve several billions of US dollars worth of new investments into the Nigerian economy across multiple sectors, including defence, agriculture and others, by the investment arms of the Government of the United Arab Emirates.
“Additionally, President Tinubu is pleased to have successfully negotiated a joint, new foreign exchange liquidity programme between the two Governments, which will be announced in detail in the coming weeks.”
The President commended the UAE President, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for his unalloyed friendship and determination to normalised the relations between the two countries.
In October 2022, the UAE authorities imposed a visa ban on Nigerians, a development, which coincided with the suspension of flights by Emirates and Etihad.
A notification then to that effect partly read: “This is to inform you that we will not be posting 30 days visa applications for these nationalities effective today October 18, 2022.”
In response to the UAE visa ban, Nigerian airline, Air Peace had suspended its Dubai operations.