Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, indicated that negotiations on the details of an agreement are currently ongoing between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This was said by Keyamo on Thursday in Abuja at the Aviation Africa Summit.

This follows a Monday meeting in Abu Dhabi between President Bola Tinubu and Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the visa ban.

Keyamo, giving an update on the visa ban lift, said, “So, we are beginning to work out all the tiny details. I have met with the Emirate before I left UAE, and we are working out the details. We cannot say the time frame. Kicking off an airline operation again on a route does not mean you will go and grab one empty plane sitting in a place.

“There is no idle plane sitting anywhere, they have to reschedule their flights and restart their routes again. All kinds of permission will be taken from local authorities and of course, I made the point in speaking with them and I made it clear that they will have to give our airlines reciprocal rights under our Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASAs).

“That is the point I insisted on, and they did say that any spot we need, they will give us as much as we give them those spots within Nigeria.”