UAE reverses visa restriction on Nigerians - Federal Government

The United Arab Emirates has agreed to resume visa issuance to Nigerians.

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, announced this via his Twitter handle on Wednesday.

Sirika explained that Nigeria also permitted the operation of Emirates Airlines in Nigeria.

According to him, lifting of the visa restriction was a condition for Nigeria to allow Emirates Airlines operations in Nigeria.

He tweeted, “UAE has written to state that they agree to issue visas to Nigerians, consequently decision has been reached to allow Emirates to fly into Nigeria.

“Commencement of the Visa issuance is condition precedent. Please bear with this unusual situation. Many thanks.”

The Federal Government had banned Emirates Airlines from Lagos and Abuja airports over alleged refusal to grant fresh visa applications submitted by Nigerians.

This was after banning European carriers, with the exception of British Airways, over travel restrictions.

Before the resumption of international flights in the country, the Federal Government had announced that Air France, KLM, Etihad, RwandAir, Air Namibia, Royal Air Maroc, Lufthansa, TAAG Angola Airlines were not granted approval to commence flight operations.