By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates are set to meet in the coming days to resolve ongoing issues concerning visa applications of Nigerians seeking to travel to the UAE.

The decision was made following a courtesy visit by the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Salem Alshamsi, to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This is according to a statement signed by the minister’s media aide, Magnus Eze, on Sunday.

Nigerians have faced challenges in obtaining UAE visas, particularly for tourism purposes.

In 2022, the UAE imposed a visa ban on Nigeria due to various diplomatic disputes.

Dubai’s Emirates Airline halted flights to Nigeria because the Central Bank of Nigeria couldn’t remit an estimated $85m in revenue to the UAE.

However, in July 2024, the Federal Government announced that UAE had lifted the visa restriction following an agreement between both countries.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said Nigerian passport holders could now travel to the UAE without any hindrance.

He also asked Nigerians seeking information on the updated UAE visa conditions can visit documentverificationhub.ae for further details.

During the meeting with the UAE ambassador, Odumegwu-Ojukwu acknowledged the strong diplomatic relations and strategic partnerships between Nigeria and the UAE.

She emphasised that Nigeria had remained committed to nurturing this relationship, which has spanned several years.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu noted that Dubai has become a popular destination for many Nigerians, with approximately 12,000 Nigerians living in the UAE.

These individuals, she noted, range from unskilled workers to professionals and students.

According to the statement, in 2015, nearly one million Nigerians visited the UAE, spending between $100m and $150m on visas alone and over $1bn on shopping, tourism, and other related economic activities.

The minister pointed out that the economic relations between both countries appeared to be largely one-sided and called for more areas of collaboration that could better serve Nigeria’s economic interests.

She also addressed concerns raised by Nigerians, including government officials, about the status of UAE visas, requesting clarification on whether new visa policies had been introduced.

There have been numerous concerns about the status of visas for the UAE. Even some top government officials are worried, and they raise their concerns.

“Is there a new visa policy for UAE? You need to let Nigerians know. We need to know what to tell our citizenry. Nigerians have invested massively in property in UAE, hosting conferences and tourism.”

Additionally, Odumegwu-Ojukwu revealed that a joint commission would soon be hosted in Nigeria, following the one held by the UAE in 2022.

This meeting will address various bilateral issues, such as power, renewable energy, and other areas of collaboration.

The minister expressed hope that the joint commission would provide an opportunity to finalise outstanding memoranda of understanding and make progress on shared economic goals.

“We want to reciprocate by hosting the joint commission in Nigeria. There are several bilateral issues such as power, renewable energy and the rest things that we need to deliberate.

“We hope that with the joint commission, we will be able to handle those MoUs that have not been treated. And we will achieve a lot,” the minister said.

She also thanked the UAE for its recent donation of relief materials to Nigeria’s flood victims and vaccines for chickenpox patients, which have supported the country’s health institutions.

In his remarks, Ambassador Alshamsi congratulated Odumegwu-Ojukwu on her recent appointment and expressed his satisfaction with the achievements in Nigeria-UAE relations over the past 50 years.

He assured the minister that he had issued numerous visas to both government officials and private individuals and stated his commitment to resolving the visa challenges facing Nigerians.

Since his arrival in Nigeria over a year ago, Alshamsi said he had issued over 700 tourism visas and would continue working to improve the process.

He also mentioned that several agreements had already been signed, with more planned before the Nigerian President’s scheduled visit to the UAE in the second quarter of the year.

The envoy noted, “We have increased visa issuance through the agent. I have had zero visa rejections since I came to Nigeria. Since I arrived a year and a half ago, I have made sure that I issue visas. We have issued over 700 tourism visas from July 2024.

“Sometimes, we might disagree on some issues, but there is nothing personal. But we could still resolve and agree. We want you to see us as part of your team; we are partners.

“We have signed three or four agreements and would soon sign another major agreement. We must try and sign more agreements before our President’s visit to Nigeria in the second quarter of this year.

“But we would hold a meeting to resolve these issues.”l

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

An unidentified boyfriend of a graduate of Lagos State University identified simply as Adija has ‘vanished’ after his girlfriend was found dead in his apartment located in the Meiran area of the state.

It was gathered on Sunday that the incident occurred on February 26 when the lady visited her boyfriend following his request.

An Instagram user, @Eyeopener, who shared details of the incident in a post, disclosed that Adija’s family became concerned when she did not pick up her calls prompting them to check on her at her boyfriend’s place as she had notified them of her destination.

The user narrated that upon getting to the apartment, the door was locked and they broke it to gain entrance where they discovered Adija’s lifeless body.

@Eyeopener wrote, “The couple had been dating since her 100-level days, and their relationship had always been toxic. The victim, whose parents reside in Ketu, often spent weekdays at her boyfriend’s place, only going home on weekends.

“On Wednesday night, around 8:30 pm, she received a call from him and went to see him. However, by the next morning, her phone kept ringing with no response. Concerned about her whereabouts, her family, knowing she was likely at her boyfriend’s house, went to check on her.

“Upon arrival, they found the door locked. When they finally managed to force it open, they were met with a tragic sight – her lifeless body on the bed, covered with a duvet.”

@Eyeopener added that neighbours noted that they heard noise from the apartment but did not bother to check on them because it had become a recurring noise.

“Neighbours reported hearing her voice on Wednesday night but did not intervene, as fights between the couple were frequent. It wasn’t until the tragic discovery that they realised the worst had happened. Meanwhile, the boyfriend has since absconded.”

When our correspondent reached out to Adija’s family on Sunday, they declined to comment on the matter at that moment.

The victim’s sister, who chose to remain unnamed, in a telephone conversation revealed that the family would speak with the press at an appropriate time.

Meanwhile, a close relative of the family, identified as Tosin, told our correspondent in an exclusive conversation on Sunday that Adija’s mother was a single mum who had been solely responsible for raising and educating her children.

Tosin said, “The woman suffered so much raising them. She’s a single mum, and the lady in question was an easy-going person.

“Some days ago, I heard that the guy was calling the mother, saying he’s also ready to die.”

Confirming the incident in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Sunday, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, said the police were making efforts to arrest the suspect.

Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the suspect,” Hundeyin said in a terse message.

PUNCH Metro also reported on Friday that the Ogun State Police Command launched a manhunt for a man simply identified as Oju, from Calabar, Cross River, who reportedly stabbed his 36-year-old wife, Josephine Isaac, to death in the Agbure community, Ogun Waterside Local Government Area of the state.

The spokesperson for the Ogun State Police Command, Omolola Odutola, disclosed that one Blessing Isaac, the younger sister of the deceased, reported the tragic incident to the Abigi Police Division on Thursday at about 9:30 am.

Blessing reportedly informed the police that, at about 1 am on Thursday, Josephine, who was married to the suspect, had a violent dispute with him. In the process, he allegedly stabbed his wife multiple times in the neck, leaving her dead.

Punch

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Chimezie Uzoukwu, a travel agent, has accused Air Peace of trying to rip him off by withholding two-thirds of the money he paid for a flight that the airline cancelled.

Uzoukwu told FIJ that he had repeatedly requested a refund through Wakanow, the agency he used to book the flight, but Air Peace did not respond until Thursday when they offered to refund only N500,000.

The travel agent said he booked a Lagos–Johannesburg ticket worth N1,557,836 on January 11 for a client through Wakanow. However, his client was unable to use the ticket because the airline cancelled the flight a few days before departure.

He said the cancellation left his client stranded in Lagos, where they had travelled to catch an international flight. To salvage the situation, Uzoukwu booked another flight with his money while simultaneously processing a refund with Air Peace.

Uzoukwu said Wakanow informed him that the airline would ascertain the refund value within a few days and that the refund process itself would take another four weeks. However, after four weeks, Air Peace still had not refunded him.

“I kept sending messages. I called, but there was no response. When I contacted Wakanow, they said Air Peace had yet to ascertain the refund value and, therefore, had not refunded them on my behalf,” Uzoukwu told FIJ.

The travel agent said that on March 6, nearly two months after the cancellation, Wakanow informed him that Air Peace had decided to refund only N500,000.

“I didn’t agree to that. They want to rip me off by keeping two-thirds of my original payment. I told Air Peace the last time I spoke to them over the phone that I would go public if they didn’t refund me. They said I should wait until next week for them to rectify it. This is the third time Air Peace has done this to me,” Uzoukwu explained.

“The way Air Peace handled the issue caused additional hardship for my client. After the cancellation, they offered to reroute him through RwandAir, but the plan failed because RwandAir has a policy of not flying passengers who do not have a return ticket with them. Air Peace was aware of this policy yet still offered the reroute.”