I am bemused by the sense of elation exhibited by some government officials and elites as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) lifted the entry ban on Nigerians.
Immediately the announcement was made this Monday, 15 July, some Nigerian officials started falling over themselves to assure the UAE that Nigerians would be of good behaviour, while pledging to strengthen partnership with it.
The lifting of the ban, which ordinarily should be a non-issue, took over our airwaves and the media. Then there was the accompanying melodrama that, whether in truth, apart from visa fees, the UAE is also demanding that each Nigerian applicant provides a six-month bank statement showing a minimum of a $10,000 balance, and pays N640,000 per person for a document verification number.
Whether these other requirements are part of a scheme to defraud Nigerian applicants or not, is not my primary focus, but the insult of the UAE banning Nigerians in the first place. This rudeness was compounded by the fact that the ban remained even after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had personally intervened when he met the UAE leader Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on 11 September, 2023.
As someone who had frequently visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi mainly on-stop over trips, and stayed a few weeks on two occasions, I could not understand why some Nigerians are fascinated with a country in which Africans are, at best, fourth class citizens. UAE unofficially rates its citizens as first class, fellow Arabs as second, Europeans and Americans as third, and Africans as fourth, if not fifth, after all the other people.
Most Nigerians I met in that country were either traders at the Deira Markets or taxi drivers. UAE goods were not really cheap; how can they when the country is not a manufacturing hub?
In terms of trade, the UAE export to Nigeria in 2022 totalled $653 million. The breakdown showed that the main product exported was refined petroleum, at $352 million. This was due to the gross ineptitude of our elites that ensured that despite Nigeria being an oil producing country, we do not locally refine our petroleum product needs. The second UAE export was broadcasting equipment worth $159 million. This, from a country that in 2022 imported $20.3 billion worth of broadcasting equipment, while it exported $17.7 billion. The third exports were cars worth $149 million, from a country whose cars are manufactured by Nissan and Toyota.
Comparatively, Nigeria’s export to UAE was $752 million, with gold accounting for $489 million. Ironically, Nigerians travel to Dubai to buy the same gold! The UAE did not export any services to Nigeria because that country itself depends on imported labour. As late as 2019, the UAE population of 9.8 million was made up of 8.8 million migrants. Migrants made up 90 per cent of its total workforce.
In reflecting this reality, I recall a professor from the American University Dubai, at a training workshop in Dubai, telling us that the joke amongst his colleagues was their reference to EMIRATE as an acronym for ‘English-Managed, Indian-Run, Arabs Take Everything.’ Another added that EMIRATES is actually an acronym describing the migrants condition: ‘English-Managed, Indian-Run, A Thousand Expatriates Suffering.’
Some Nigerians buy property in UAE and I wonder why. This is because except for the “freehold” areas introduced in 2002, if you are a foreigner, the ownership of your property expires in 50 years after which it reverts to the original owners.
Except that in comparison with Nigeria, UAE has a disciplined elite that has used its oil wealth to develop their country; that country has little or nothing to teach Nigeria. If anything, Nigeria has a lot to teach the UAE in terms of comportment and civilised behaviour in the international arena.
Internationally, the UAE is predatory; it plays hyena diplomacy. In 2011, it contributed 12 aircraft to bomb Libya, including the convoy of President Mouammar Ghadaffi, leading to his summary execution.
In 2012, it contributed troops to crush peaceful protests in Bahrain. Also, the UAE was involved in the establishment and funding of the Islamic State (ISIS), before that terrorist organisation became a monster which had to be put down by its sponsors.
When Qatar declined to crack down on rebels in the Islamic world like the Islamic Brotherhood, refused to stop its relations with Iran and, rejected the ultimatum to shut down the Al Ajazera international television network, the UAE contributed militarily to blockade that country.
Taking advantage of the crises in Somalia, the UAE is buying up parts of that country in order to own lands in Africa. It paid leaders of the rebel Puntland State in Somalia, $336 million, to take over the port of Bosaso and its environs. It also paid the leaders of the rebel Republic of Somaliland $440 million to take over the Port of Berbera and adjourning areas.
Perhaps the most infamous foxy moves the UAE has made is its invasion and seizure of parts of the Yemeni Republic. Houthi rebels had overthrown the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and a civil war ensured in 2005. The deposed President fled south and Saudi Arabian and UAE troops were deployed to stop the rebels from taking over the entire country.
But the UAE had its own selfish plans. After pretending to protect the factional Hadi government in southern Yemen, it raised an internal force to fight Hadi. It then invaded and occupied four Yemeni islands and two islets that make up the Yemeni archipelago. In seeking to justify its colonisation of the Yemini lands, the UAE claimed that it was maintaining security, providing stability and supporting the inhabitants of the island in their development projects. It is instructive that the Puntland lands UAE has acquired have borders with the Yemeni Gulf of Aden, which it is trying to acquire.
Nigeria has bent backward to maintain good ties with the UAE. Perhaps it is in our nature to make and maintain friends. But a basic principle in diplomacy is reciprocity. We should treat countries as they treat us. We should maintain some dignity in our relationships. I tried to quantify what Nigeria might have lost when the UAE ban was on. It wasn’t much. So what did we gain during the ban? I think plenty. To begin with, we saved the scarce foreign exchange, including flight tickets we were expending travelling to a country that has little or nothing to offer.
The main attraction of the UAE, especially Dubai, is that it became a status symbol where rich Nigerians spend ‘their’ money. It had become the playground of Nigerian Big Boys like Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, alias Hushppupi. Even a Nigerian First Lady became identified with Dubai.
If we do not want to discourage Nigerians travelling to countries like the UAE, government should at least not encourage them.
