Covid: Nigeria bars unvaccinated civil servants from office

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The country also announced that it had detected the first cases of Omicron coronavirus variant, and urged residents to adhere to health policies.
Security agents were deployed in various offices on Wednesday and began enforcing the compulsory vaccine policy that was developed by the Presidential steering committee on Covid-19.

Abuja,

Unvaccinated civil servants in Nigeria were on Wednesday barred from entering their offices, as the country stepped up its efforts in curbing the spread on Covid-19.

The country also announced that it had detected the first cases of Omicron coronavirus variant, and urged residents to adhere to health policies.

Security agents were deployed in various offices on Wednesday and began enforcing the compulsory vaccine policy that was developed by the Presidential steering committee on Covid-19.

In October, the committee gave the federal civil servants until December 1, 2021 to get a Covid vaccine.

No jab, no job

Operatives of the Nigerian Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCDC) were deployed to enforce compliance at the Federal Secretariat which houses all ministries.

Civil servants and members of the public who are unable to provide proof of vaccination and a negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) at the entrance to the Head of Service building were turned back.

Watch: Nigeria takes Covid jabs to churches and mosques

Some angry angered civil servants accused the government of discriminatory enforcement of vaccine policy.

The Presidential Steering Committee on Covid-19 announced that civil servants who are unable to show proof of vaccination and negative PCR tests would not be allowed to access government buildings from December 1, 2021.

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, however, urged the Federal Government to extend the deadline for vaccination to March next year, a move which the committee said was “impossible”.

Covid variants

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director General Ifedayo Adetifa on Wednesday said the first three cases of Omicron variant were detected in three passengers from South Africa.

The NCDC also announced an additional 105 Covid-19 cases bringing the current number of confirmed cases in the country to 214,218.

The Centre warned that Nigeria is at risk of registering high incidences of the new variant as people have not been strictly following health regulations.

It further said there was one Covid-19-related death reported on Tuesday bringing the death toll to 2,977.