In a unanimous decision on Tuesday, the House of Representatives of Nigeria expressed strong condemnation over the cancelation of visas for 264 Nigerian travelers upon their arrival in Saudi Arabia.
The incident, which has been labeled as an embarrassment to the nation, prompted the House of Representatives to call on the federal government for urgent diplomatic intervention and to make sure such a case does not take place in the future, VisaGuide.World reports.
As The Nation explains, the House of Representatives emphasized the need for the government to take diplomatic measures to remedy the situation immediately and urged it to ensure the full implementation of the Bilateral Air Service Agreements, safeguard Nigerian national carriers operating in Saudi Arabia, and protect the interests of travelers.
Moreover, highlighting the severity of this issue, the House of Representatives required certain authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the visa cancelations.
According to Hon. Nkemkanma, the authorities of Saudi Arabia revoked the visas of all 264 Nigerian passengers who arrived in Jeddah on an Air Peace flight.
The authorities said that even though all passengers passed through the Advanced Passengers Pre-screening System and the live monitoring of the process by Saudi Arabian authorities, their visas were canceled without any explanation, The Nation noted.
Officials at the Nigerian Embassy in Jeddah were unable to determine who authorized the cancelations of the visas. Thus, serious concerns about the transparency and communication between the two countries have been raised.
The incident occurred only a week after Air Peace launched its first direct flight to Saudi Arabia, and sources have suggested that the cancelations might be a deliberate strategy to hinder the Nigerian carriers from operating on this route.
While the authorities have said that all 264 passengers had their visas canceled and were not permitted entry to Saudi Arabia, some local newspapers said that after the intervention of the Nigerian embassy, the number of affected individuals was reduced to 177.
As of now, neither Air Peace nor the Saudi Arabian government have officially responded to the incident.
The lack of official statements has added an air of uncertainty to the situation and has left many questions unanswered. Moreover, this situation is also now pushing people away from taking a trip to Saudi Arabia as they fear their visas will be canceled upon their arrival in the country.
