Barely two days after lifting the travel ban placed on passengers from Nigeria, India and South Africa, the United Arab Emirate (UAE) has reversed its decision, placing an indefinite suspension on airlifting of passengers to and from Nigeria.
The country has also directed that any passenger that had earlier travelled to Nigeria in the last 14 days before reversing its decision would not be allowed into its territory.
The reversal announced by the country came barely two days after the UAE eased travel rules for inbound passengers arriving from India, South Africa, and Nigeria.
UAE directives were confirmed by the country’s flagship carrier, Emirates Airline, which announced an indefinite suspension of flights to and from Nigeria.
Emirate said that inbound and outbound flights into the country have been suspended and that the suspension would remain till further notice beginning from Monday, June 21st, 2021.
According to the airline operator, any passenger that had earlier travelled to Nigeria in the last 14 days before the flight suspension would not be allowed to board any of its flight to the UAE.
Through a statement released on Monday, the airline operator directed passengers that had earlier purchased flight tickets from its outlets or online to travel to Lagos and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja should approach its call centres for rebooking processes.
Emirate, though did not state reasons for its decision, noted that flight operations would only resume to the country when all conditions have been to be favourable and safe for their staff.
The statement reads: “In line with government directives, passenger flights to and from Nigeria (Lagos and Abuja) are suspended with effect from 21 June 2021 until further notice.
“Customers travelling to and from Lagos and Abuja will not be accepted for travel. Customers who have been to or connected through Nigeria in the last 14 days are not permitted to board from any other point to the UAE.
“We regret the inconvenience caused, and affected customers should contact their booking agent or Emirates call centre for rebooking. Emirates remains committed to Nigeria, and we look forward to resuming passenger services when conditions allow,” Emirates added.
Earlier, the country had announced lifting the travel ban placed on passengers from Nigeria to Dubai after a protracted disagreement between the countries on Covid-19 protocols.
UAE said that the ban placed on passengers from the country was lifted after reviewing the COVID-19 protocol earlier announced to check transmission of the virus into Dubai.
The country had earlier insisted that travelers from Nigeria, South Africa, and India undergoing several other covid-19 tests after the initial test in Nigeria.
Announcing the resumption of flight between the two countries, the Dubai Media Office said that passengers from Nigeria are now expected to ” have received a negative result for a PCR test taken within 48 hours before departure.”
” Passengers are also expected to present a negative PCR test certificate with an OR code from laboratories approved by the Nigerian government, while also undergoing the same test upon arrival at the Dubai airport”.
