By Uche Mbah
The diplomatic row between the United Arab Emirate and Nigeria took a new turn Monday when Dubai banned Nigerians from entering its County.
To achieve that, it banned all European Airlines from flying Nigerians into Dubai.
The UAE instructed all airlines destined for Dubai not to carry Nigerian passengers.
Consequently, Airlines are cancelling bookings for any passenger with Nigerian passport hoping to transit to Dubai.
Beside European airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Air and other international airlines going to Dubai from their bases deboarded Nigerians.
They said they were acting on directives from the destination country, UAE.
”UAE has bared passengers from Nigeria”, a staff of one of the European airlines told this magazine, ” don’t you know what has been happening?”
Nigeria has been having some row with the UAE over Bilateral Air Service Agreement, BASA which flowed from the initial suspension of flights to Nigeria by Emirates over COVID-19 protocols.
UAE gave one slot, weekly, to Air Peace, a Nigerian Airline, while it has five entries into Nigeria.
Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, insisted on also giving one slot a week to Emirate, and Emirate pulled out of Nigeria out in anger.
Now it has taken the battle to a new level.
Prominent Nigerians have slated there shopping spree for this season. It is believed Emirate is targeting them in this diplomatic brickbat.
