The Nigerian presidency has blamed the initial visa ban on Nigerians by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the activities of a few bad eggs that are soiling the image of the country.
It however submitted that now that the ban has been lifted, it won’t be business as usual again.
The presidency said henceforth, specific and diligent evaluation would be carried out with respect to those travelling to the UAE from Nigeria and why they are travelling.
The special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and publicity, Ajuri Ngelale made the submission on Monday shortly after the deal between President Tinubu and his UAE counterpart Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan which lifted the visa ban on Nigerians was secured.
Speaking with Channels TV, Ngelale said the Nigerian government won’t allow anything that would affect the new agreement between the two countries.
The presidential media aide identified some laxities in the visa processing activities with respect to Nigeria as responsible for the initial ban by the UAE and added that such won’t be allowed to repeat itself.
“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.
He added that “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.
“And 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.”
The visa ban was placed on Nigerians last year by the UAE but was lifted on Monday following discussions between President Tinubu and the UAE leader.
