Security operatives have begun to stop civil servants and visitors without proof of vaccination and negative PCR tests from accessing Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
This began on Wednesday as Nigeria reported three cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus disease.
Nigeria confirmed its first cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant among two travellers who arrived from South Africa last week, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said on Wednesday.
The NCDC also said retrospective sequencing of previously confirmed cases among travellers to Nigeria had identified the variant among a sample collected in October. It did not give details.
The presidential steering committee on COVID-19, led by the Secretary to the Federal Government, Boss Mustapha, announced in October that civil servants without proof of vaccination and negative PCR tests would not be allowed to access government buildings from December 1.
In a reaction, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, however, urged the Federal Government to extend the ban till March 2022.
It described the Wednesday’s deadline for the compulsory vaccination of civil servants as impossible.
