It is no longer news that the erstwhile good relationship existing between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been going back and forth in the last two years.
Again, it is on record that the trade relationship between both countries has been at a standstill, with the suspension of flight operations between the two nations courtesy of the UAE stance against Nigeria.
Prior to 2021, there existed a robust commercial partnership between the two countries with huge passenger traffic from Nigeria regularly trooping to the UAE for tourism, trade, pleasures and even medicals, which in turn generated huge funds to the coffers of the UAE government.
The heavy movements between the two countries were made seamless through the services provided by two UAE airlines, Emirates and Etihad on one side and Air Peace from Nigeria.
With the volume of passengers and tonnes of cargo leaving the Arab country into Nigeria traced to the patronage of the Nigerian business class, the UAE authorities, at some point, acknowledged the financial contributions of Nigerian travellers to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Arab country.
Besides the huge funds flowing into the UAE directly, it was the same story with the two UAE airlines that enjoyed heavy patronage from Nigerians having monopolised the Nigeria-UAE route for years with no reciprocity from Nigeria until Air Peace was finally designated.
While it was expected that the goodwill between both countries will be allowed to prevail even in the midst of any crisis, the UAE government, without batting an eyelid, bombarded Nigeria with barrage of harsh policies over communication breakdown and few people’s misdemeanors.
Agreed that because each country has the right to choose which nationals come into its territory as a way of ensuring that the rules guarding and guiding its policies are not abused, but applying such policies on the generality of an entire nation is absurd.
Therefore, using the irresponsible behaviour of few Nigerians to paint the whole country in bad light and hiding behind the trapped funds of Emirates Airlines to not only stop the airline from flying into Nigeria but also frustrated the only Nigerian airline, Air Peace, from coming to UAE is unexpected.
Stopping Air Peace from flying into UAE is an action taken too far and it only depicts how extreme the UAE government has gone about the crisis without considering the likelihood of future partnership.
It will be recalled that it was Nigeria, through the now defunct national carrier, the Nigeria Airways, that developed the Lagos-Dubai route to the level that other airlines, including Emirates, are now trying to control.
Obviously, the UAE intentionally frustrated Air Peace out of the route in order to hinder it from consolidating on the route in the absence of Emirates and the only way this harsh hostility and total ban of Nigeria from the route could be achieved is by slamming visa ban on Nigerians, who happen to be the major customers of Air Peace.
Not done with the indirect banning of Nigeria and majority of its nationals from entering the country, despite the efforts made by the government of Nigeria to have the issues resolved, the peak of the UAE hostility came recently when Nigeria’s name was excluded from the list of countries the UAE government approved to have access to five-year tourist visa.
It is very clear that the UAE no longer wants to relate with Nigeria and there is no point pushing the matter too far in order not to be a laughing stock before the whole world.
Amidst this controversy, many lessons are to be learnt by Nigeria, including the need to always take precaution while signing Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA) with any country viz-a-vis how such agreements will be of benefit to Nigeria and the need to always have alternatives when faced with situations like the present one.
At the end of the day, if the UAE decides to come down from its high horse and ready to resume business with Nigeria, the government should not accept them back in a hurry but ensure the existing BASA between the two are clearly spelt out with Nigeria’s interest protected.
Agreed, the UAE may have better advantages over Nigeria, one fact is that Nigeria, through its citizens who travel to the Arab country to spend money, contribute in no small measure to the economic strength it parades today.
Above all, should the UAE’s lifting of the visa ban on Nigeria coincide with the resumption of flights on the Dubai-Nigeria route by Emirates Airlines, it would have confirmed the notion that what has existed as symbiotic relationship between the two countries was a smokescreen after all.
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