Abuja – The Federal Government on Sunday announced that it has evacuated 542 stranded Nigerians from the United Arab Emirates.
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission disclosed this via its official twitter handle.
“A total of 542 stranded Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates evacuated by the Federal Government arrived Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on board the @MaxAirLtd Charted flight.
“The plane touched down at 4:29am today, October 23, 2022. The evacuees consisted 79 males, 460 females and three infants,“ the commission stated in a tweet.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it has received the 542 Nigerian returnees from the UAE through Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Manzo Ezekiel, head of press unit, NEMA, confirmed this in a statement on Sunday.
Ezekiel said the returnees were examined by health administrators and profiled by relevant authorities, including the Nigerian Immigration Service before they were given transport fares to return to their various destinations.
The evacuation of the stranded Nigerians was coming barely three days when the UAE placed a ban on issuance of fresh Dubai visa applications from Nigerians.
The United Arab Emirates gave no reason for the visa ban.
However, the UAE Immigration authorities, said all applications are on hold until issues between the UAE government and the Nigerian government are resolved.
This was conveyed in a notice issued to the UAE’s trade partners in Nigeria including travel agencies on Friday October 21.
The notice read, “All Dubai applications submitted are now rejected. It is general for Nigerians and approvals are on hold at the moment.
“Kindly advise your clients to resubmit C2=A0 applications when the issue is resolved between both governments.”
A customer representative from Air Peace, however said the airline was still flying to Dubai with those who already have a valid visa.
The representative added that if any changes occurred for Nigerians, it would be duly communicated.
