The federal government has lifted the ban on the operations of Emirates Airlines in and out of the country.
Following the development, the government said flights from the United Arab Emirates to Nigeria would commence immediately.
The minister of aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, who announced on Friday night in Abuja also stated that the ban was lifted after Emirates had removed its stringent conditions slammed on Nigerian travellers.
The United Arab Emirates, in its latest Coronavirus protocol released yesterday, dropped the Rapid Antigen Test (RDT) for COVID-19 as prerequisite for travelling to the Middle East country for Nigerians and some other countries.
The Nigerian government also responded swiftly by lifting the ban it previously placed on UAE’s Emirates Airline’s flights into Nigeria.
A statement dated November 26, 2021, issued by the Aviation Business Management Team-Dubai Airports, indicated that RDT would no longer be required for all flights effective from Saturday November 27, 2021 at 00.0 hours, for passengers travelling to Dubai from the following countries: the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Republic of Uganda, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of Zambia.
According to the statement inbound passengers, who are eligible to travel to Dubai…should comply with the following conditions: “The passenger(s) shall present a valid negative COVID-19 test certificate that is issued within the valid time frame, namely, (72) hours from the time of collecting the sample and from the approved health service that uses QR code system.
“Passenger(s) shall undergo a PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) upon arrival at Dubai Airports.
“No approval is required from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) or from General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) for the passengers from the aforesaid countries, to enter Dubai. No rapid PCR test report is required.
“The airlines shall ensure and/or verify the compliance of the above requirement(s) prior to passenger(s) boarding the aircraft and shall not accept any passenger(s) who does not fulfill the aforesaid condition(s) and/or requirements,” the statement said.
It also directed that if the airline carries any passenger(s) who fails to meet the aforesaid requirements, the airline would be held responsible to return such passenger to the point of embarkation and also any other matters that may arise.
It stated that air carriers that fail and or neglect to comply with the measures set out in this decision would be subjected to the fines and measures stipulated in Clause 37 of Schedule No (7) the Executive Council Resolution No. (4) of the 2017 Approving Fees and Fines of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), considering that adherence to the provision of DCAA circular No. (1) of 2021, is strictly required for airlines to continue practicing air transport activity arriving to or transiting through Dubai.
The statement also said that the conditions are imposed in addition to the guidelines, protocols and conditions issued from time to time.
With the new protocol, UAE has dropped the RDT test, which caused a disagreement between Nigeria and the Arab country thus forcing Emirates to stop operating to Nigeria when the federal government insisted that it must not conduct RDT on Nigerian passengers four hours before their flight as well as insisting that the 72 hours PCR test must be accepted by the airline.
Briefing journalists Sirika said the ban on Emirates was lifted following communications received from UAE removing travel conditions the Nigerian government had opposed.
He said the UAE had removed the restrictions without conditions hence Nigeria reciprocated the gesture by lifting the ban on Emirates.
Sirika assured that the relationship between Nigeria and UAE remained strong.
Similarly, the minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, noted that the Nigerian government recognised that the UAE “has a responsibility” to protect the lives of her citizens and “whatever measures that they had taken were in the interest of her citizens.”
