President Bola Tinubu has met with the leadership of the United Arab Emirates in a bid to resolve the Emirates Airline flight suspension to Nigeria, visa ban and other diplomatic issues.
The PUNCH reports that the UAE imposed a visa ban on Nigerians in October 2022, shortly after Emirates Airlines suspended flights to Nigeria. The move was reportedly in response to Nigeria’s failure to repatriate billions of dollars in trapped funds.
In a statement released by the president’s spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, the presidency said that Tinubu and the President of the UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, have finalised a historic agreement.
In this report, PUNCH highlights the five significant agreements made by the President with the UAE, as outlined in the official statement.
- The immediate cessation of the visa ban placed on Nigerian travellers.
- Both Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines are to immediately resume flight schedules into and out of Nigeria, without any further delay. The immediate restoration of flight activity, through these two airlines and between the two countries, does not involve any immediate payment by the Nigerian government.
- An agreed framework has been established, which will involve several billions of U.S. dollars worth of new investments into the Nigerian economy across multiple sectors, including defense, agriculture and others, by the investment arms of the Government of the United Arab Emirates.
- The President has successfully negotiated a joint, new foreign exchange liquidity programme between the two Governments, which will be announced in detail in the coming weeks.
- An agreement to fully normalise and reset to excellence, the standard of relations between the two important countries.
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