President Muhammadu Buhari has told the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to lift its Visa ban order on Nigerian travellers.
Recall that there was a diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and UAE, leading to a visa ban on Nigerians wishing to travel to the Middle Eastern nation.
On October 2022, the Emirati authorities slammed a blanket visa ban on Nigerian travellers, excluding those carrying diplomatic passports.
Though the UAE did not specify its reasons for the decision, some had adduced the blanket visa ban on the misbehaviour of some Nigerians living or working in the country.
In a telephone conversation on Monday, President Buhari spoke to his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who doubles as the Emir of Abu Dhabi, on the need for UAE to lift the visa ban.
President Buhari’s conversation with Sheikh Al Nahyan was contained in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, yesterday in Abuja.
The President had called Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to condole with him on the death of his mother-in-law, Sheikha Maryam Al Falasi, during which important issues of mutual concerns between the two countries came up.
Buhari requested his UAE counterpart to review the blanket visa ban imposed on Nigerians, recalling that mutually beneficial excellent relations have subsisted between the two nations over many years, symbolised by robust economic interactions and regular consultations on matters of common interest, including engagements at the highest political levels.
He explained that recent altercations in their bilateral relations generated by consular issues relating to the behaviour of some Nigerians in the UAE were being ironed out.
Buhari explained that no country, including Nigeria, would condone criminalities and illegal behaviours.
The President expressed the readiness of the Nigerian Government to apply necessary sanctions through appropriate judicial prprocessesgainst anyone identified to have committed criminal acts in the UAE.
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