By Olanrewaju Olusegun
United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Nigerian professionals are seriously appealing against work permit restrictions reportedly placed on them by the authorities.

However, the President, Professional Nigerians in UAE, Kayode Ogungbohun, who led a narrative campaign, “#iamNigerian,” said on Channels TV‘s Sunrise Daily programme yesterday that the restriction may be a response to the unlawful behaviour of some Nigerians resident in the UAE.

According to him, the campaign was an avenue for Nigerians to caution one another and to present a positive outlook for Nigeria in the Middle East country.

The president also urged the UAE to remove all restrictions placed on all job categories in the country.

Ogungbohun said in the interview: “We saw the problem, although we don’t have any official reason why UAE took the decision. We speculated that some things were done by Nigerians in terms of not obeying the law of the host country.

“So, we came up with the solution to speak to ourselves to be law-abiding, to appeal and pacify the UAE government to allow all categories of jobs to be given to Nigerians. Because these jobs that they are not giving to Nigerians are being given to people of other nationalities.

The #iamNigerian campaign, he added, was aimed at projecting the image of Nigeria in a positive light.

“Nigerians are now aware that there is a problem in our hands. We have left the stage of denial and realised that there is a problem, and it is everyone’s responsibility to play a role,” Ogungbohun stated.

Meanwhile, a resident of Fujairah in the UAE, Esther Adedokun, has debunked claims that atrocities caused by Nigerians could have led to work permit restrictions.

Nigerians, she said, are denied work permits, and frustrated, stranded, and unable to borrow money to survive in a foreign country.

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Adedokun urged the Nigerian government to resolve the diplomatic row between Nigeria and the UAE.

Citing a personal experience, she also lamented that the work restriction had left her stranded in Dubai.

“My situation is so critical that I have spent all my savings. I don’t want us to have the impression that because of the atrocities committed by some Nigerians that is why we have this problem. Nigerians are not the only citizens in UAE that commit worse crimes, so are there no restrictions on their work permits on citizens of other countries?

“I am against crime and criminality, but the diplomatic issue if resolved will ease the problem of this restriction,” she said in the interview.