Tinubu’s spokesman dismisses claims Nigerians can start flying to UAE

The Special Adviser to the President on media and publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, has said that the reversal of the visa ban on Nigerians by the United Arab Emirates does not mean that things would go back to business as usual as it concerns UAE visa applications and processing.

He said this in an interview with Channels ‘Politics Today on Monday night, September 11.

Ngelale said: “Every agreement comes with mutual responsibility, there’s no free lunch. And what I mean by that is the notion that “flood gates open up and that we will go back to business as usual”. That is not what Nigerians should expect. I want to be very clear about this so that everybody understands.

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“One of the major challenges within the bilateral relationship with respect to visa processing, with respect to Nigerian being able to migrate to the UAE, for example, was the fact that there was a kind of relax on the part of certain visa processes or certain applications that were being made that created a lack of specificity or lack of diligent evaluation with respect to who is travelling to the UAE and why they are travelling.”

“This why we had issues, just a few bad eggs amongst our people, giving a bad name to all of us which was a major sticking point as to why we got to this point. What we’ve done is part of the process is put in place new measures that will ensure that there’s effective diligence done on the part of both sides, that’s the UAE authorities and the Nigerian authorities in making sure that any Nigerian citizen seeking to travel to the UAE for example is being thoroughly scrutinized not in a way that is prejudicial, not in a way that is presumptuous or negative but in a way that ensures that well-meaning citizens, people that want to go and do business or people who want to get education or people who want to participate as active in productive or active citizens in those domains are those people.

“Not people that’ll be involved in drug trafficking that some of our people have engaged in when they travel abroad. So, these are some of the things that have to be sorted not in a way that is whimsical, in a way that is disturbing and that is part of what we are agreeing to. To ensure that our best people, our peace-loving and well-meaning people are those leaving abroad. Because they’re going to give us a good name and effectively represent us wherever they’re in the world.”