President Muhammadu Buhari has pleaded with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Government to lift its blanket visa ban on Nigerians. The president made the plea on Tuesday 14th February 2022 while on a condolence call with Mohamed bin Zayed, the President of the UAE, on the death of his mother-in-law.
According to a statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, “The President requested his UAE counterpart to review the blanket visa ban imposed on Nigerians intending to travel to the UAE, recalling that mutually beneficial excellent relations have subsisted between the two nations over many years, symbolised by robust economic interactions and regular consultations on matters of common interest, including engagements at the highest political levels.
"He noted that recent irritants in bilateral relations generated by consular issues relating to the behaviour of some Nigerians in the UAE are being ironed out, explaining that no country including Nigeria will condone criminalities and illegal behaviours."
Shehu continued by stating that the President expressed the readiness of the Nigerian Government to apply necessary sanctions through an appropriate judicial process against anyone identified to have committed criminal acts in the UAE. Buhari, therefore, urged the UAE authorities to allow relevant security/intelligence agencies of the two countries to tackle any form of criminality criminalities and illegalities; also to come up with lasting solutions.
President Buhari concluded by assuring the UAE leader that the issue of the Emirates funds was receiving appropriate attention alongside those of other foreign airlines operating in Nigeria, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria had been directed to increase foreign exchange allocation to the airline, and has therefore, requested the resumption of the suspended operations of Emirates Airline in the country.
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