The Ethiopian government has scrapped visas-on-arrival for Nigerians with immediate effect.
In a statement on Tuesday, the government said travellers
would need to obtain their visas at its embassy in Abuja before embarking on
any trip to the country.
The development comes barely two weeks after Ethiopian
Airlines emerged as the core investor in Nigeria Air — the country’s national
carrier — with 49 percent shareholding.
“Please, be informed that effective immediately, no more
visas on arrival for Nigerian citizens,” the email reads in part.
The circular explained that “passengers are to obtain their
visa at the Ethiopian embassy in Abuja before travelling.”
The embassy did not say what prompted the decision to cancel
visa-on-arrival for the Nigerians.
It, however, said the new policy did not affect passengers
transiting overnight in Addis Ababa.
“Passengers having a layover in Addis to travel the next
morning to Zanzibar, Seychelles, Lusaka, Lilongwe, Harare, Cape Town, etc., are
not affected by the ban and do not need a transit visa for their trips,” it
added.
Ethiopia also mandated Nigerians entering its country and 42
other African countries to produce their yellow fever vaccination cards at any
of its borders.
The countries include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritania and
Niger.
Others are Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, South
Sudan, Uganda, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, French Guyana,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
Speaking on the development, Senait Ataklet, Ethiopian
Airlines’ traffic and sales manager, said the Ethiopian government did not ban
Nigerians from entering but only introduced an online visa application.
Ataklet said with the new policy, Nigerians will now be
required to fill a visa-on-arrival requisition form prior to departure.
“The information I have it’s not a ban on arrival visa, but
you know just like a Nigerian requesting, they need an online form to be filled
out prior to departure for an on-arrival visa. Even though it’s on arrival
visa, you need to fill an online form,” Ataklet said
“So, it’s not banned. Before anybody can just go without
applying, but when Ethiopians come to Nigeria, they need to fill out the online
form on arrival. That’s the agreement, basically, that’s what they telling me
now. They (Nigerians) need to fill a form an online visa-on-arrival requisition
form.”
Also speaking on the latest developments, an expert in the
industry, Olumide Ohunayo, noted that Ethiopia’s decision was not in fair
interest of its partnership process with Nigeria.
“I doubt if Ethiopia has given us some respect. Here is an
airline that is trying to partner us as a national carrier, who already has
about three points of entry into the country using the Togolese national
carrier.”
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