*Photo R-L: President Tinubu, Amb Salem Saeed Al-Shamsi*
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed that the standoff between UAE and Nigeria over issuance of visa and outstanding repatriation of Emirate Airline be resolved immediately.
The President also offered to personally intervene on the two issues so that people to people socio-economic relation between the two countries can resume.
President Tinubu spoke on Thursday during the presentation of Letter of Credence by the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Salem Saeed Al-Shamsi at the State House.
The UAE last year banned nationals of Nigeria and a few other African countries from entering its capital city, Dubai.
The nationals were accused of causing unrest in the country.
“This is to inform you that we will not be posting 30 days visa applications for these nationalities effective today October 18, 2022,” the notice issued by UAE read in part.
It further told Nigerian applicants that “All Dubai applications submitted are now rejected. It is general for Nigerians and approvals are on hold at the moment.
“Kindly advise your clients to resubmit C2=A0 applications when the issue is resolved between both governments.”
UAE national career, Emirates Airline, also last year, suspended flights operations to Nigeria over its inability to repatriate funds trapped in the country.
According to the statement, the suspension took effect from October, 29 2022.3 Nov 2022.