The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has said efforts are ongoing to work out the details on the lift on United Arab Emirates (UAE) visa ban on Nigerians.
Keyamo disclosed this at the closing ceremony of the 7th African Aviation Summit in Abuja on Thursday, September 14.
While speaking on the visa issues that saw President Tinubu visiting the UAE this week, Keyamo said;
“We are working the details out. When two countries agree at the very top level then of course all the government operatives will begin to work out the tiny details.
“So, we are beginning to work out all the tiny details. I met with Emirate before I left UAE, I met with Etihad before I left UAE and we are working out the details.
“The time frame, we cannot say the time frame. Kicking off an airline operation again on a route, it is not that you will go and grab one empty plane sitting in a place.
“There is no idle plane sitting anywhere, they have to reschedule their flights, restart their routes again, and all kinds of things. All kinds of permission will be taken from local authorities and of course, I made the point in speaking with them and I made it clear that they will have to give our airlines reciprocal rights under our BASA.
“That is the point I insisted on, and they did say that any spot we need, they will give us as much as we give them those spots within Nigeria.”
The minister also addressed concerns regarding trapped funds, and assured that efforts are being made to ensure that the funds of foreign airlines are repatriated
