The UAE last year stopped issuing visas to Nigerians following the suspension of flights by the Emirates airline after it was unable to repatriate funds from the West African country due to forex restrictions.

Emirates said then that it had failed to make progress after “making considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities” to find a viable solution

On Thursday, the president said the matter should be resolved “immediately” noting that he was ready to” personally” intervene in the matter.

“We should look at the issues as a family problem, and resolve it amicably… We must work together. We need to agree on core aviation and immigration issues," he said.

He spoke as he received the UAE ambassador, Salem Saeed Al-Shamsi, at state house in the capital, Abuja.

Mr Al-Shamsi said he had been working on 24 agreements with the Nigerian government adding that “these are small issues, all within a family, and they will be resolved”.