Ethiopia Cancels Visa On Arrival For Nigerians 

Visas-on-arrival for Nigerians has been scrapped by the Ethiopian government with immediate effect.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

The government said on Tuesday that visitors would need to secure their visas at its embassy in Abuja before beginning any journey to the nation.

This news comes only two weeks after Nigeria Air, the nation’s airline, revealed Ethiopian Airlines as its primary shareholder with a 49 percent stake.

“Please, be informed that effective immediately, no more visas on arrival for Nigerian citizens,” the email reads in part.

The reason for canceling the Nigerians’ visas on arrival was not disclosed by the embassy.

However, it said that the new rule did not apply to those who were passing through Addis Ababa overnight.

“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.

In addition, Ethiopia required that travelers from Nigeria and 42 other African nations show their certificates of immunization against yellow fever at any of its borders.

Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritania, and Niger are among the countries.

Others include French Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, South Sudan, Uganda, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, and Venezuela.

Senait Ataklet, traffic and sales manager for Ethiopian Airlines, commented on the situation and said that the country had just instituted an online visa application process rather than outright banning Nigerians.

According to Ataklet, Nigerians will now be forced to fill out a visa-on-arrival demand form before departing under the new policy.

“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 an arrival visa, you need to fill an online form,” Ataklet told TheCable.

“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.”