Unvaccinated federal workers barred from offices

Civil Servants at the entrance of Federal Secretariat, Phase One, Abuja Photo: Adeniyi Bakare

Federal workers in Abuja who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 were denied access to their offices.

The Federal Government had set a December 1 deadline for all its employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the directive by the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, “Federal Government employees shall be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test result obtained within 72 hours in order to gain access to their offices in all locations throughout Nigeria and our Missions.”

Mr Mustapha had said the decision was made in the best interests of Nigerians and to stop the spread of the COVID-19 within the country.

As a result of the directive, the majority of Civil Servants who spoke to Radio Nigerians pleaded with the Federal Government to extend their time for vaccination.

Earlier, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan had in a statement directed that Grade 12 and below resume on Wednesday, December 1, 2021.

The federal government had on March 4, extended the work-from-home directive due to the surge of the COVID-19 infection in the country, as what the NCDC said was a responsibility to curb its spread.

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The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Wednesday morning confirmed the first case of the Omicron variant in the country.

The variant to considered to be the most virulent, and the World Health Organisation, WHO has tagged it, ‘variant of concern‘.

Omicron variant, a new strain of the coronavirus disease, was reported by South Africa and first detected in Botswana.

Already, governments the world over have begun to place travel restrictions, especially on African countries, as WHO warns that such action may erode global solidarity.