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By Chinelo Obogo
There are speculations that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may lift the visa ban imposed on Nigeria as Emirates, the country’s national carrier has revealed it would resume services to Nigeria on October 1, 2024, 23 months after suspending its operations.
Though no official statement has been released on the visa ban either by the UAE authorities or the Nigerian government, Emirates airline said on its website that it would commence operating a daily service from Lagos on October 1, offering customers more choice and connectivity from Nigeria’s largest city to, and through, Dubai. The service will be operated using a Boeing 777-300ER.
Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer said, Adnan Kazim, said, “We are excited to resume our services to Nigeria. The Lagos-Dubai service has traditionally been popular with customers in Nigeria and we hope to reconnect leisure and business travelers to Dubai and onwards to our network of over 140 destinations. We thank the Nigerian government for their partnership and support in re-establishing this route and we look forward to welcoming passengers back onboard.”
2021
The diplomatic relationship between Nigeria and the UAE has been fraught with controversies. In December 2021, the Middle Eastern country restricted travel from Nigeria due to a reported surge in COVID-19 cases from Nigerian passengers.
However, there were suggestions that the travel ban was linked to a diplomatic row over flight frequencies between Air Peace and Dubai authorities. Air Peace requested three flights a week to Sharjah Airport, but UAE only granted one and in retaliation, the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, reduced the flight allocations for Emirates airline.
2022-2023
In October 2022, the UAE banned visas for Nigerians and citizens of around 20 other African countries, among them are Uganda, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Cameroon, Liberia, Burundi, Republic of Guinea, Gambia, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Benin, Ivory Coast, Congo, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Comoros, and the Dominican Republic. The Emirati authorities issued a notice to trade partners and travel agents, instructing them to reject all visa applications from the affected countries.
In November 2022, Emirates suspended flights into Nigeria over its inability to repatriate its $85 million revenue trapped in the country. The suspension was the second time the airline halted flights to the over its blocked funds, the first time was in August, 2022.
Throughout 2023, there were conflicting reports about the status of the visa ban. In September 2023, there were reports that the UAE had lifted the visa ban, but UAE officials denied this. As of today, May 17, 2024, Nigerians still require visas to enter UAE and there is no official confirmation that the ban has been lifted.
However, with Emirates announcing resumption of flights from Nigeria to Dubai from October 1, some speculate that the visa ban may be lifted by then to enable easy movement between both countries.
