The country’s aviation sector has been thrown into confusion following the news about the latest decision of the Ethiopian government to stop the hitherto issuance of visa on arrival for Nigerians.
The development is coming barely one week after the federal government unveiled its national carrier, Ethiopian airlines as the preferred bidder in the coming Nigeria Air.
Following the notice of the ban of visa on arrival for Nigerians which has taken effect since Tuesday, October 4th, 2022, Ethiopian airlines has already informed its travel partners in Nigeria of the new policy.
The latest policy has again elicited negative reactions from key players who attributed their opposition towards the choice of ET in the Nigeria Air deal with many arguing that the partnership will be exploited by the African carrier to the disadvantage of Nigeria.
Prior to the latest announcement, Nigerians travelling to Ethiopia had the privilege of obtaining their visas on arrival at the foreign country, a situation that is no longer feasible with the cancellation.
The circular issued to its travel partners in Nigeria declared: “Passengers are to obtain their visa at the Ethiopian Embassy in Abuja before travelling. Please note that: Passengers transiting overnight in Addis Ababa are not affected by the ban. E.g. passengers having 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 transit visa for their trips.”
Many stakeholders who reacted to the development have called on the federal government to cancel the partnership deal between Ethiopian airlines and the Nigeria Air project.
The government while announcing ET as the technical partner of Nigeria Air with 49 per cent shares in the project made the African carrier the single highest shareholder in the coming new airline.
As of the time of filing this report, the leadership of the travel agents, one of the trade partners of Ethiopian airlines are yet to react as they said they were still studying the development.
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