By Abubakar Yunusa
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.
He said the country has observed all protocols to facilitate the visa ban reversal.
“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.”
Speaking further, the minister said he is privy to the date when the travel restriction will be officially lifted, but would wait for the official 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.
On March 5, the presidency shared a document announcing the restriction has been lifted, however, Bayo Onanuga, special adviser on information and strategy to President Bola Tinubu, clarified the document was not authorised by the Nigerian and UAE governments.
Also, on May 23, the federal government said the UAE visa ban on Nigerians has been resolved and an announcement is imminent.
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