The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has ordered Nigerians with expired visas to leave the country before August 17.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Nigerian embassy in Abu Dhabi said UAE has granted waivers on fines and penalties on visas that expired before March 1.
The embassy urged affected citizens to submit their papers for emigration processing. It said Nigerians are advised to join the evacuation flights arranged from the country before the deadline.
"The Embassy wishes to inform that the government of the United Arab Emirates has granted waivers on fines/penalties on visas that expired before 1st March 2020 to leave the country on or before 17th of August, 2020," the statement read.
"Consequently, the Embassy is urging fellow Nigerians living in the UAE to avail themselves of this opportunity to return home with the impending Air Peace evacuation flight scheduled for 1st August, 2020, and or subsequent Emirates evacuation flights before the expiration of the grace period.
"Accordingly, affected Nigerian nationals who are willing to return home are kindly requested to submit their names and passport numbers to the Embassy and or the Consulate for onward transmission to the UAE authorities in order to obtain the necessary clearance."
The development in the UAE is unconnected to the negative reports about Nigerians in the country.
In June, some Nigerians including Abass Ramon, popularly known as Hushpuppi, internet celebrity, were arrested by the Dubai Police for fraud.
Hushpuppi is currently being prosecuted in the US.
The UAE authorities had earlier excluded Nigeria from a list of countries permitted to fly into the Emirates.
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