UAE Deportation: 400 Nigerians arrive back at Abuja airport
Four hundred Nigerians have been deported from the United Arab Emirates and have arrived in Nigeria.
The deportees were received at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by officials from the Office of the National Security Adviser, in collaboration with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, the National Emergency Management Agency, and other relevant stakeholders.
“Four hundred Nigerians, including 90 females and 310 males, have been deported from the United Arab Emirates back to Nigeria,” the statement said.
“They were received at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by the Office of the National Security Adviser in collaboration with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and other stakeholders,” a post on X said on Wednesday.
The Federal Government repatriated a total of 190 Nigerians from the United Arab Emirates in July 2024, this newspaper reported.
The diplomatic tension between Nigeria and the UAE has been ongoing, with the UAE imposing a visa ban on Nigerians nearly two years ago due to various diplomatic disputes.
One major issue involved Dubai’s Emirates Airline halting flights to Nigeria after the Central Bank of Nigeria was unable to remit an estimated $850 million in revenue to the UAE.
In June, after several rounds of negotiations with UAE authorities, the Nigerian government assured its citizens that the visa ban would soon be lifted.
Around the same time, it was announced that Nigeria had paid 98 percent of the $850 million owed, signaling progress in resolving the dispute.
This deportation occurs against the backdrop of ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two nations, which may be rooted in various undisclosed issues. Despite this, reports earlier this year indicated that both countries had reached an agreement to lift travel restrictions on Nigerians.
In July 2024, the United Arab Emirates government announced that it had finally lifted visa restrictions on Nigerians with immediate effect.
Proofreading by Uchechi Ojo, Sub-editor at Neptune Prime.
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