The Federal Government has barred unvaccinated civil servants from work, with effect from December 1, 2021.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, announced this at the national briefing of the committee in Abuja on Wednesday.
“With effect from 1st December 2021, Federal Government employees shall be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result done within 72 hours, to gain access to their offices, in all locations within Nigeria and our Missions. An appropriate service wide advisory/circular will be issued to guide the process,” Mustapha said.
According to him, statistics generated over the last four weeks on testing have shown that the trend of infection is going down in some states while going up in others.
He said that the combined total for testing by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and rapid diagnostic test (RDT) now stands at about 3.141,795m persons.
Speaking on the diplomatic row with the United Arab Emirate (UAE) over travel band due to testing conditions, the SGF said that the Aviation authorities in collaboration with the diplomatic sector have made reasonable progress in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that discussions are still on-going with the UAE Authorities to resolve the impasse.
Lifts travel ban on South Africa, Turkey, Brazil
Mustapha said over several months, four countries were placed on high level restriction for travellers from such countries and that the PSC has, after a review of the developments in these countries, removed South Africa, Turkey, and Brazil from the restricted list.
The government had in May barred travellers from Brazil, India and Turkey due to rising COVID-19 cases in those countries.
He said a revised protocol will be issued in the next 24 hours.
He also said that two major religious festivities (Salah and Christmas) are approaching and the nation shall be experiencing increased passenger traffic in and out of the country, which can also witness large gatherings during the event.
“While PSC prepares to escalate surveillance and other control activities, we urge the states and all Nigerians to also increase their vigilance and take measure to moderate activities,” he said.
