photo credit-vanguard news
Beginning December 1, federal government employees across the country will be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination before arriving to work. Mr. Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, revealed the new policy decision at a PSC briefing yesterday in Abuja.
Mustapha stated that new safety measures would be issued by the government within the next 24 hours.
In a similar attempt to limit the spread of COVID-19, Nigeria withdrew South Africa, Turkey, and Brazil from the list of nations under high-level travel restrictions.
To obtain access to their workplaces, Mustapha said public workers would have to produce a negative COVID-19 PCR test result within 72 hours, at all Nigerian sites including the country's overseas embassies. To lead the process, he stated an appropriate service-wide advisory/circular will be published.
Mustapha added that figures derived from test results over the previous four weeks revealed that the trend of infection was decreasing in certain states while increasing in others. He placed the total number of people tested by PCR and RDT at 3,141, 795 million.
He also stated that discussions to end the diplomatic standoff between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over testing requirements for Nigerian visitors to the UAE were ongoing.
Mustapha stated that the aviation authorities had made acceptable headway in resolving the problem in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mustapha stated that South Africa, Turkey, and Brazil were removed from the list of banned countries with immediate effect. The three countries were among the most hit by the deadly COVID-19 Delta strain, which killed a large number of deaths.
The PSC decided to loosen the restrictions at a meeting on Wednesday, where the committee examined developments in the impacted countries, he added.
The federal government withdrew India off the list on September 13 as a result of the country's better condition.
"As you are aware, with effect from the 11th October, the UK has lifted restrictions on fully vaccinated visitors from Nigeria to the UK," Mustapha added. Nigeria applauds this progress and promises that the PSC will continue to examine Nigeria's procedures in light of global trends, scientific findings, and national experience. In the following 24 hours, a new procedure will be released."
The PSC chairman also warned the public about the next two major holy holidays – Salah and Christmas – by stating that there will be greater passenger movement in and out of the nation.