Nigeria and Cessation of Tensions With UAE. President Bola Tinubu maintained his economic charm offensive in the UAE, meeting with President Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan early last week after honoring the G20 Summit invitation in New Delhi.
Whether the Middle Eastern country rescinded its October 2022 indefinite travel ban on Nigeria over diplomatic tensions remained contentious.
Emirates Airlines stopped serving Nigeria due to the CBN’s $85 million late payment.
The Nigerian president’s spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said the UAE dropped the travel ban and pledged investment.
In its statement describing the meeting between the two leaders, the UAE’s embassy in Nigeria didn’t mention lifting the ban.
It merely stated a desire to enhance ties “in areas that serve both countries’ sustainable economic growth, including economic, development, energy and climate actions fields.”
Ngelale’s mistake should teach him not to exaggerate every important move to avoid worse embarrassments.
President Tinubu’s admirable effort to restore presidential dignity by banning attack dogs must continue. Nigerians don’t need hype. We want mature, substantive truth.
Some of our society rejoiced after this episode, which was unfortunate. Dubai is a popular destination for Nigerian enterprises, notably traders and job seekers, but it has also become a site where the overfed Nigerian ruling class enjoys themselves at the expense of the masses.
Restoring entire connections should level the playing field for mutual gains.
UAE’s Emirates had the most flight slots, while Nigeria’s Air Peace was awarded a pittance and forced to land at Sharjah Airport, causing customers significant difficulty.
We should let countries like the UAE know that Nigeria has much more to offer than it has shown.
Nigeria has tropical, Sahelian, desert, and temperate weather, unlike UAE, which is a desert yet very developed.
We must learn from UAE’s Dubai and Abu Dhabi teachings to the developing nations.
If we do well, the world will lick our fingers for oil.
