Nigeria to bar unvaccinated government workers from offices

Nigerian government has announced that government workers who have not received Covid-19 jabs will not be allowed into their offices from December.

This effectively makes covid vaccines mandatory for federal civil servants across the country – a policy the government has been considering for several months.

Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on Covid-19 Boss Mustapha said proof of a negative Covid test done within 72 hours will be the only other option for government employees.

The government has not made any mention of visitors to its offices.

Nigeria has so far fully vaccinated just 1% of its population of more than 200 million.

Inadequate vaccine doses and hesitancy by the citizens are blamed for the low vaccination rate. But millions of doses it has received in recent months through the Covax facility are expected to boost the vaccination campaign.

The government has also announced the lifting of travel restrictions for passengers from South Africa, Turkey and Brazil. But it has not announced any lifting of restrictions for travellers from India.

The ban was imposed in May following a spike in Covid-19 cases in those countries.