President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to remove the blanket visa ban placed on Nigerians.
Investors King recalls that the UAE government enacted visa ban on citizens of Nigeria and 20 other African countries which took effect from October 18, 2022. The government had directed that all visa applications from the named countries should be sent back or cancelled.
Buhari made the travel ban removal appeal to President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the Emir of Abu Dhabi through a telephone call on Monday.
The Nigerian President had called to condole with his UAE counterpart on the death of his mother-in-law, Sheikha Maryam Al Falasi after which he raised the issue of creating cordial relations between the two countries beginning with lifting the visa ban.
In a statement issued by the presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, giving the details of the conversation, Buhari urged Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to review the visa ban on citizens of Nigeria in order to ease the restriction in travelling to the UAE.
President Buhari stated that before now smooth mutual relations had existed between the two countries for several years which had brought about economic growth and beneficial discussions or engagements on salient matters of common interest.
He pointed out that the bilateral relations that existed began to drain when some Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates began to misbehave against their conducts.
Buhari, who said no nation including Nigeria will condone criminal activities and illegal acts, averred that the Nigerian government is ready to apply appropriate penalties through judicial processes against anyone nabbed for criminal acts in the UAE.
He requested that such criminal matters should be allowed to be handled by the relevant security/intelligence agencies of the two countries who will proffer solutions to curb the spread of criminality.
Buhari further appealed for the suspended Emirates Airline in Nigeria to resume its operations.
Investors King gathered that in 2022, Emirates Airline suspended its operations in Nigeria due to the non-retrieval of its funds in the country.
President Buhari emphasised that the trapped funds of the airline are being investigated as well as those of other foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.
The UAE President was assured that the Emirates Airline foreign exchange allocation will be increased by the Central Bank of Nigeria when it resumes operation.
