By Itohan Abara-Laserian
Some stakeholders in the aviation industry have expressed hope that the lifting of visa ban on Nigerian travellers by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would be profitable to both countries.
They spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
The General Secretary of Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative, Mr Olumide Ohunayo, said that there was need for both countries to take advantage of the lifting of the ban.
“I expect Nigeria to make use of it. I expect more flights. I expect Emirates to return,” he said.
Ohunayo hoped that the ban lifting would help Nigeria to grow capacity on international routes.
The President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, Mr Yinka Folami, said that there had been high demands from Nigeria for both leisure and business experience in Dubai.
He said: “It is also good for the travel industry. Coming back would obviously translate into more travels which will translate into more transactions for members of the travel agency community.
“It is a good thing diplomatically,” he added.
On the reason for the visa ban, Folami said that it was unclear to him.
“It is not clear to me why the ban was placed, but what I can say is that, as Nigerians, we should conduct ourselves properly in foreign lands,” he said.
However, the Chief Executive Officer of Centurion Aviation Security and Safety Consult, retired Group Capt. John Ojikutu, said: “What I can say to our Nigerian brothers and sisters is that they should not take the care or benevolence of the UAE for granted.
“We have taken it for granted too much that the stoppage of the Emirates airline operations affected us more than we thought it would affect the airline or its home country.
“We are the one going up and down to beg because of what we were losing from an airline that was operating about 21 frequencies weekly.
“That is more than 200,000 dollars weekly,” he said.
Ojikutu said that it might not be up to two foreign airlines paying that much for airport ground handling services in Nigeria.
NAN reports that the Federal Government on Monday announced that the UAE had lifted visa ban on Nigerian travellers after two years. (NAN)
