Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, announced that the United Arab Emirates will commence the issuance of visas to Nigerian travellers effective from October 8th.
The minister tweeted: “UAE confirmed that they will begin issuance of Visas from 8th of October, 2020. Travellers to have a return ticket, hotel booking, negative PCR result & a Health insurance (similar to Schengen requirement). Health insurance can be paid through travel agents/airline.”
There has been a recent diplomatic tussle between the governments of Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates which culminated in the Nigerian government placing retaliatory travel restrictions on the UAE after they placed restrictive travel restriction on Nigerian citizens.
Highly level diplomatic dialogue has been ongoing for a while and it seems that there has been an agreement found to resolve these issues as travel is set to resume between both countries.
The minister further added that although there is an agreement between both countries to resume international travel activities, the commencement of airline operations will depend on the beginning of visa issuance to Nigerian citizens by the UAE.
He had disclosed that there was a written agreement by the UAE government to issue visas to Nigerians and consequently the Nigerian government have also reached a decision to allow Emirati citizens to also fly into Nigeria.
The minister tho stressed that the “commencement of the Visa issuance is the condition precedent.”
