United Arab Emirates (UAE) embassy in Abuja has debunked circulating reports of imposing travel restriction on Nigerians.
Rumours that the country has placed a travel ban on Nigeria by suspending different categories of visa have been shared on various social media platforms.
Reacting to this in a statement, the embassy noted that the UAE only temporarily suspended issuing UAE visas for all nationalities since March 17, 2020 to curb the spread of coronavirus.
It further stated that after entering the recovery phase of the pandemic, the UAE eased some measures on July 7, permitting visitors from various countries to adhere to the necessary precautionary measures, including showing negative PCR test results within 92 hours of travelling to the UAE.
It urged the general public to disregard every information about restricted travel for Nigerians.
The Embassy’s statement reads;
In response to a recent press and social media reports regarding purported travel restrictions between the UAE and Nigeria, and in an affirmation of the growing bilateral relations betwee two friendly countries, the UAE embassy in Abuja denies the accuracy of the information contained in these reports.
At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, UAE took a number of precautionary measures to combat the virus’ spread, including the temporary suspension on issuing UAE visa for all nationalities as of March 17th 2020.
After entering the recovery phase of the pandemic, the UAE eased some measures on July 7, permitting visitors from various countries to adhere to the necessary precautionary measures, including by showing negative PCR test results within 92 hours of travelling to the UAE. This includes those visiting from Nigeria.
The UAE Embassy in Abuja continues to work closely with the Nigerian Government to obtain the necessary approvals to facilitate travel between the two countries.
The Embassy said UAE is operating only one general travel rules for all nationalities, therefore all current restricted travel between the two countries resulted from the lockdown in Nigeria.
