…The UAE Embassy in Nigeria debunks claims that it placed travel bans on Nigeria after the arrest of Hushpuppi
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Thursday, denied claims of placing travel bans on Nigerians.
This was disclosed by its Embassy in Abuja as issued in a statement, stating that unsubstantiated allegations of restrictions of various types of visas to Nigerians after Hushpuppi was arrested for alleged fraud were false.
The statement added that the UAE only explore some precautionary procedures to tackle the spread of coronavirus, which include the temporary suspension on issuing UAE visas for all nationalities as of March 17, 2020.
It revealed however that the UAE had already relaxed some of these measures from July 7, allowing visitors from various countries to observe the necessary precautionary measures, including presenting negative PCR test results within 92 hours of travelling to the UAE, as part of measures it is taking while entering the recovery phase of the pandemic.
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According to the statement, the travel between the UAE and Nigeria had remained regulated due to the closure of Nigerian airspace, adding that the UAE Embassy in Abuja was working diligently with the Nigerian government to acquire the essential approvals to enable travels between the two countries.
The embassy, therefore, appealed to the general public to substantiate the validity of such reports and to seek information from the official sources.
The UAE travel bans reports on Nigerians was associated with the arrest of Hushpuppi and 11 by the Dubai police on June 10, in UAE in connection with cyber fraud and other serious allegations. He was later extradited to the United States.
This incident led to the Nigerian social media users taking to platforms to lament that private and public organisations in Dubai began to exempt Nigerian applicants from job vacancies after Huhpuppi’s arrest. They also protested that Nigerians were also restricted from applying for tourist visa.
