Ethiopia bans visa-on-arrival for Nigerians
The government of Ethiopia has suspended visa-on-arrival for Nigerians.
In a statement, the government said travellers would need to obtain their visas at its embassy in Abuja before embarking on any trip to the country.
This is coming barely two weeks after the country’s flag carrier, Ethiopian Airlines acquired a 49 per cent majority stake in the Nigeria Air project.
The statement reads,” Please be informed that effective immediately, no more visas on arrival for Nigerian citizens. Passengers are to obtain their visa at Ethiopian Embassy in Abuja before travelling.
“Please note that: Passengers transiting overnight in Addis Ababa are not affected by the ban. E.g. Passengers having a layover in Addis to travel the next morning to Zanzibar, Seychelles, Lusaka, Lilongwe, Harare, Cape Town, Etc are not affected by the ban and do not need a transit visa for their trips.
“Thank you for choosing Ethiopian Airlines.”
The embassy did not say what prompted the decision to cancel visa-on-arrival for the Nigerians.
Ethiopia also mandated Nigerians entering its country and 42 other African countries to produce their yellow fever vaccination cards at any of its borders.
The countries include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritania and Niger.
Others are Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, South Sudan, Uganda, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
The move by the Ethiopian government has questioned the actual undertones of the partnership as well as Nigeria’s rule of reciprocity with regard to both countries’ Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA).
However, Speaking on the development to The Cable, Senait Ataklet, Ethiopian Airlines’ traffic and sales manager, said the Ethiopian government did not ban Nigerians from entering but only introduced an online visa application.
Ataklet said with the new policy, Nigerians will now be required to fill a visa-on-arrival requisition form prior to departure.
“The information I have it’s not a ban on arrival visa, but you know just like a Nigerian requesting, they need an online form to be filled out prior to departure for an on-arrival visa. Even though it’s on arrival visa, you need to fill an online form,” Ataklet said.
“So, it’s not banned. Before anybody can just go without applying, but when Ethiopians come to Nigeria, they need to fill out the online form on arrival. That’s the agreement, basically, that’s what they telling me now. They (Nigerians) need to fill a form an online visa-on-arrival requisition form.”
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