UAE Visa Ban Lifting: FG Says ‘No More Free Lunch’ For Nigerians

The Presidency has assured that it won’t be business as usual with respect to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) visa applications and processing following the lifting of the visa ban on Nigerians by the Middle East country.

Ajuri Ngelale, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Bola Tinubu said things will be done differently to address some loopholes that caused the visa ban.

He added that the agreement between the two countries comes with mutual responsibility.

“Every agreement comes with mutual responsibility. There is no free lunch. What I mean by that is the notion that floodgates will open up and we go back to business as usual. That is not what Nigerians should expect. I want to be very clear about this so that everybody can understand,” Ngelale said.

The President Spokesman added “One of the major challenges of the bilateral relationship with regards to visa applications, visa processing and with respect to Nigerians being able to migrate to the UAE for example, was the fact that there was a laxity on the part of certain visa process or certain applications that were being made that it created a lack of specificity and lack of diligent evaluation with respect to who is travelling to the UAE and why they are travelling.

“This is why we had issues. Just a few bad eggs among our people giving a bad name to all of us which was a major sticking point as to how we got to this point. So, what we have done as part of this process is to put in place measures to ensure there is effective diligence done on the part of both sides,” Ngelale stated.