According to a deal struck between the Federal Government (FG) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), holders of Nigerian passports will be able to apply for visas to visit that Arab country as of today, July 15, 2024.
Following the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information, briefed the State House media on Monday.
The declaration was made more than two years after the UAE stopped issuing visas to Nigerians as a result of a protracted diplomatic spat with the country that has the largest population in Africa.
It also occurs around two months after Emirates Airlines, the official airline of the United Arab Emirates, declared the start of new flights to Nigeria. The airline announced in May that it would start operating daily flights from Lagos to Dubai on October 1, 2024.
Emirates Airlines suspended its Dubai-Lagos flights in 2022 over its inability to repatriate trapped funds in Nigeria in the heat of the diplomatic fireworks between the two countries.
Nigeria and the UAE have a long history of restrictions on flights between both countries based on certain unresolved issues surrounding the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA).
Visa restrictions later surfaced as diplomatic fireworks continued between Nigeria and the UAE, which is a top destination for Nigerian migrants and tourists.
In September 2023, President Bola Tinubu met with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi to smooth the rough edges of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
