The leadership of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agents (NANTA), headed by Mrs Susan Akporiaye, has queried the excitement displayed by many Nigerians over the recent news about by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) lift of visa bans on Nigeria.
Reacting to the excitement that greeted the news which has since been cut short when the UAE authorities debunked it, the NANTA president said rather than being excited, Nigerians should have used the development to learn their lessons.
Akporiaye went down the memory lane to recall how the experience brought upon Nigeria during the COVID-19 era forced the country, particularly the travel agents, to look inward by seeking an alternative to promoting tourism within Nigeria and Africa for survival.
She however, expressed surprise that despite the decision, Nigerians have suddenly forgot the pains and began to shift their businesses to non-African countries like the UAE.
Akporiaye who said the visa bans by the UAE did not really affect the travel agents, except those who wanted to continue to do their business with UAE, declared: “I could remember we went to Egypt and their ambassador and we struck a business that because UAE is closed now, let’s open up other destinations, thank God Egypt is in Africa so, we in NANTA, went ahead to open up other destinations. We opened up Egypt, we opened up Morocco. There was a lot of traffic to Morocco. Egypt, Lebanon, East Africa, Southern Africa, Namibia and Botswana, its a hot cake now, then, of course, West Africa also opened up, Gambia is coming on board to sign an MOU with NANTA so that we can open up that destination too.”
She added: “There is nothing scandalous about UAE ban on Nigeria, in fact, you get to see much more and better in Egypt, Lebanon, Namibia, where the ocean meet the desert, you do cruise and you also do desert tour, we have all these in Africa.
The UAE authorities ridiculed us a year ago, now we are being ridiculed again. When are we going to learn. I don’t need to physically go to Dubai to do business with UAE. People’s businesses are ongoing, the transactions are being done online and its being moved by cargo to their doorsteps, so the ban doesn’t stop business if you are a serious business person, but then, again is it only UAE you get to do business with? If they say they don’t want our business let’s take it somewhere else and that is the way I see it.”
The NANTA president used the opportunity to caution Nigerians against rushing to pass judgment on the government, since nobody was privy to what transpired at the meeting held between the Nigerian government and the UAE in Dubai.
“You and I don’t know what went wrong in that meeting, we are only privileged to know through what is being said but to be fair to government, at the just concluded aviation Africa Summit in Abuja, the minister of aviation, Festus Keyamo made mention of the visit to the UAE, amongst every other things discussed, the major was business relationship, to bring in investments to the country and the other one was also about the airlines coming back to fly and of course the UAE visa and he made mention that soon it will be resolved.
That was what he said in his opening speech that it will soon be resolved. So if they (UAE) come back and say no its not resolved and so what. Does it make any difference. Did we all die this one year that the UAE banned us, no, we have moved on. That’s human being for you. When they are ready for us we are here but as long as they are not ready for us it doesn’t stop our lives, it doesn’t stop anything. Life must go on, as a matter of fact their banning us is like a blessing in disguise as we began to discover the richness and the wealth that we have under our nose in Africa.
“We discovered Egypt, so many things that we rush to Dubai for is there in Egypt and even better. Egypt own is natural while Dubai is artificial and UAE is artificial. Morocco is a beautiful place, Lebanon is a beautiful, all these things are in abundance. We need to be proud of ourselves and hold our head high. To me I think its their loss and not ours because the UAE opening is making people excited that they want to go and spend money. So if we decide to spend such money in Africa,so be it. Its not the end of the world. You and I were not in that meeting so we cannot say categorically what really happened.
“So there is always more to the bureaucracies of different countries. Let’s not always see our own as the worst situation, or always blame our own leadership, what makes you think they did not say It. Its possible they said it and now turned around and change their mind .My question on this is why are Nigerians excited?”