Visa ban: FG begins engagement with Ethiopia to seek reversal of policy

The federal government says it has begun engagements with the Ethiopian government over the recent visas-on-arrival ban on Nigerians.

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, said this on Wednesday during the federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Last week, the Ethiopian government scrapped visas-on-arrival for Nigerians, a development that now compels travellers to obtain visas at its embassy in Abuja before embarking on any trip to the country.

Although the Ethiopia did not give a reason for its decision, the federal government said Nigerians overstay in the East African nation.

Speaking during the meeting, Sirika said efforts were being made to reverse the new policy made by the Ethiopian government.

He also said the ban does not affect its agreement with Ethiopian Airlines being the core investor in Nigeria Air, adding that the ban affected other countries and not Nigeria alone.

“I don’t think this is restricted to or applied to Nigeria alone on the decision to do visa-on-arrival. From all the information we got, it affects many countries as well,” Sirika said.

“We have contacted Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and also ministry of foreign affairs to deal with this. It has nothing to do with the relationship between Nigeria and Ethiopian airlines.

“Nigeria Air is a fully private sector-led initiative and the Ethiopians, even though 100 percent owned by the government, have been running on their own as if it were a private company. Even with COVID, I’m not speaking for them, they did wonderfully well, and they posted a billion-dollar profit.

“In the past, what concerns us really with them is that there is a policy which is not done by the airline, but a policy of their government, that once you have $3,000 or above and you have not declared at the point of entry, they seized it from Nigerians and we pushed that case, struggling with them for two years.

“So, what Ethiopian airline did is noble, and I think it should be commended. They built a terminal within the two years we were negotiating a superclass hotel, a four-star hotel, where people that are in transit don’t need to go into town. So, you don’t need to go to customs to declare your money or get your money seized. So, you remain within the hotel and board your next flight, even if it is 72 hours ahead and that has solved that problem.

“This particular one, I think, is an initiative by their ministry of interior and foreign affairs, they applied it to other countries, it is not unique to Nigeria. But that said, it came to our notice and we spoke to our ministry of foreign affairs and immigration service to deal with it, and the embassy as well. But I’m sure that Nigeria is one of the markets they cherish well, so they must look into the policy.”