UAE visa ban against Nigerians not yet lifted, says CNN

The United Arab Emirates has contradicted claims by the Nigerian government that it is to lift a year-long visa ban on travellers from Nigeria.

An official from the Gulf state told CNN: “There are no changes on the Nigeria/UAE travel status so far.”

According to CNN, the source asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

In a notice last year, the UAE said it will no longer issue visas to citizens from Nigeria and 19 other African nations. It did not provide further details. Obtaining a 30-day tourist visa was relatively easy until the UAE abruptly stopped issuing visas to Nigerian nationals.

Flights between both countries were stopped last year after Dubai’s Emirates Airline suspended its operations in Nigeria, citing trapped revenues.

The carrier said it could not access and repatriate its funds to $85 million withheld in Nigeria.

Earlier this week, President Bola Tinubu met with UAE leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi where both men “finalized a historic agreement,” according to a statement released by the Nigerian government.

The government said in the statement that the agreement paved the way for lifting the visa ban, including the immediate resumption of flights between both countries.

“Furthermore, by this historic agreement, both Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines are to immediately resume flight schedules into and out of Nigeria, without any further delay,” a statement by Nigeria’s presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said.

However, a statement by the UAE government later Monday said both leaders had during the meeting, “explored opportunities for further bilateral collaboration” with the hope of “reinforcing ties between the UAE and Nigeria,” but did not mention lifting the visa ban or flights restarting.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.