Confusion has set in the travel industry following the suspension of Nigerians from getting Visa on Arrival, VOA, for travellers visiting Ethiopia. The Ethiopian authorities issued the directive yesterday which according to stallholders would create some hitches in the travel protocol. The information has already been relayed to travel partners by the management of Ethiopian Airlines, the national Airline of Ethiopia. Formerly, passengers travelling to Ethiopia or transiting through the country from Nigeria were entitled to a visa on arrival as they land at the Bole airport in Addis Ababa.
However, according to the new directive, passengers travelling are expected to get an ET visa right from the embassy in Abuja.
As contained in the memo issued to travel partners by the authorities it partly reads, “Please be informed that effective immediate No More Visa on Arrival for Nigerian citizens.
“Passengers are to obtain their visa at the Ethiopian Embassy in Abuja before travelling. Please note that: Passengers transiting overnight in Addis Ababa are not affected by the ban. E.g. passengers having a layover in Addis to travel the next morning to Zanzibar, Seychelles, Lusaka, Lilongwe, Harare, Cape Town, etc are not affected by the ban and do not need a transit visa for their trips.”
Although, Vigil360 could not verify the authenticity of the new rule, the effort to verify proved abortive.
However, Dailytrust reports that a travel agent informed them that “We are still studying the development. We have reached out to some officials of Ethiopian Airlines, though they did not deny it they said it is not confirmed yet.”
When contacted, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mrs Susan Akporiaye also said the information she got from a senior official of Ethiopian Airlines was that the issue has not been confirmed.
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