by Kayode Oyero The United Arab Emirates has ordered Nigerian citizens living in the country whose visas had expired to leave before...
by Kayode Oyero
The United Arab Emirates has ordered Nigerian citizens
living in the country whose visas had expired to leave before August 17, 2020
or face the wrath of the law.
The Embassy of Nigeria, Abu Dhabi, UAE, has, therefore,
advised concerned nationals to join the evacuation flights arranged from the
country before the expiration of the grace period.
In a statement titled, ‘Public Notice’ and dated July 21,
the Nigerian Embassy in the Emirates urged affected citizens to immediately
submit their papers for emigration processing.
The statement read, “The Embassy wishes to inform that the
government of the United Arab Emirates has granted waivers on fines/penalties
on visas that expired before 1st March 2020 to leave the country on or before
17th of August 2020.
“Consequently, the Embassy is urging fellow Nigerians living
in the UAE to avail themselves of this opportunity to return home with the
impending Air Peace evacuation flight scheduled for 1st August 2020, and or
subsequent Emirates evacuation flights before the expiration of the grace
period.
“Accordingly, affected Nigerian nationals who are willing to
return home are kindly requested to submit their names and passport numbers to
the Embassy and or the Consulate for onward transmission to the UAE authorities
in order to obtain the necessary clearance.”
The announcement is coming amid rising public commentaries
in what has been described as stern bilateral policies against Nigeria by the
UAE.
This is not unconnected to fraudulent activities perpetrated
by a few Nigerians based in Dubai including alleged international internet
fraudster Abass Ramon aka Hushpuppi who was arrested by the Dubai Police in
June and is being prosecuted in the US.
Amongst other moves, the UAE authorities recently excluded
Nigeria from a list of countries permitted to fly into the Emirates.
Its aviation authorities had last week impounded a Nigerian
aircraft for flouting safety procedures.
Source
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