The
United
Arab
Emirates
has
lifted
a
21-month-long
visa
ban
on
Nigerians.
Nigeria’s
information
minister
Mohammed
Idris
said
Monday
that
the
UAE’s
decision
to
lift
the
ban
that
has
been
in
place
since
October
2022
came
after
“mutually
beneficial
negotiations”
between
both
governments.
He
referred
to
“updated
controls
and
conditions”
that
prospective
Nigerian
visitors
to
the
UAE
must
abide
by.
Instead,
travellers
will
be
required
to
submit
documents
proving
their
identity
and
showing
travel
history,
among
other
things,
to
generate
a
verification
number
that
would
then
be
used
to
apply
for
a
visa.
An
exception
is
granted
for
applicants
13
years
or
younger,
according
to
a
website
of
the
Emirati
government.
The
UAE’s
ban
was
premised
on
several
factors,
including
allegations
of
improper
conduct
and
attempts
to
circumvent
visa
rules.
The
row
escalated
when
the
Nigerian
government
cut
back
Emirates
Airlines’s
flights
to
Nigeria
from
21
times
a
week
to
just
once.
It
was
supposedly
in
retaliation
for
the
UAE’s
refusal
to
allow
Nigerian
airliner
Air
Peace
to
fly
thrice
a
week
to
Dubai,
approving
only
one
weekly
flight.
Emirates
suspended
its
flight
operations
to
Nigeria
in
late
2022,
blaming
an
inability
to
repatriate
tens
of
millions
of
dollars
in
earnings
away
from
the
country.
But
on
taking
office
in
May
2023
Nigeria’s
President
Bola
Tinubu
began
meeting
with
authorities,
including
Emirati
president
Mohamed
bin
Zayed
Al
Nahyan,
to
resolve
the
impasse.
The
lifting
of
the
ban
this
week
was
preceded
by
Emirates’s
announcement
in
May
that
it
would
resume
daily
flights
between
Lagos
and
Dubai
later
this
year
in
October.
“The
Lagos-Dubai
service
has
traditionally
been
popular
with
customers
in
Nigeria,”
Adnan
Kazim,
deputy
president
and
chief
commercial
officer
for
Emirates
said
in
May.
A
feature
of
the
resumption
of
the
service
is
that
Emirates
will
offer
“more
than
300
tonnes”
of
weekly
cargo
capacity
in
its
passenger
aircraft’s
lower
deck
in
and
out
of
Lagos.