The United Arab Emirates has disregarded the pleas of President Muhammadu Buhari to lift a visa ban slammed on Nigerian nationals since October 2022. The ban, however, does not affect persons holding diplomatic passports.
Last month, Mr Buhari had appealed to Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayad Al Nahyan, the UAE president, to remove the visa ban on his country people in a telephone conversation whose content was relayed by his media aide, Garba Shehu.
The Nigerian leader, via the phone, disclosed that he had given instructions to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the amount of foreign exchange allocated to the Emirates Airlines, the bane of the now-resolved months-long diplomatic row between the two nations and as a show of goodwill towards the Arab nation.
Since the phone conversation took place nearly a month ago and with Mr Buhari’s presidency ending in June, the UAE appears uninterested in his offer and has remained silent on the matter.
Instead, the Emirati government has maintained the travel restrictions on Nigerians and other Africans whom it has accused of constituting unrest in its territory through cultism and other illegal activities.
It remains unclear whether Mr Buhari will continue to persuade the Sheikh to remove the ban before his presidency expires or whether he will leave the incoming president, Bola Tinubu, to shoulder that responsibility.
