By Ade Martins-
The Nigerian government has mandated covid vaccination for all those travelling into the country, following the recent outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in China, the Federal Government has said, insisting that travellers entering into the country must show evidence of vaccination.
This news comes a month after the federal government relaxed the COVID-19 regulations in the country, and has taken many by surprise given the fact that many countries have relaxed their covid vaccine mandate.
Nigeria suffered one of the mildest rates of Covid-19 in the world.
Disclosing the Federal government decision, the Director of Port Health Services, Geoffrey Okatubo, told newsmen in Abuja that pre-departure and post-arrival PCR test requirements for all persons who are not fully vaccinated have been suspended.
“All passengers will not be required to upload evidence of vaccination on the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP).
“Port health services has resumed checks of passengers’ vaccination status and will provide traffic data on inbound passengers from all over the world.
“All international travellers arriving Nigeria are now to provide evidence of vaccination at point of entry and it was agreed that unvaccinated passengers arriving from other countries may have to be vaccinated at the airport.
“The minister of health also recently approved that port health services should meet with other stakeholders such as the NCDC, and the ministry of aviation over the use of rapid diagnostic testing at points of entry.
“Port health services have upgraded its surveillance at the country’s points of entry due to the spike in COVID-19 cases in the United States, China and Japan, amongst others,” he said.
Nigeria had a total of 266,000 cases of covid-19, and 3,155 cases. during the height of the pandemic, with a number of national lockdown imposed.
Lockdowns in Nigeria were a big problem in a country were a large percentage of its people live from hand to mouth, earning their living on a day to day basis.
The new law insisting on covid vaccinations for all travellers into the country will prevent a lot of Nigerians abroad from visiting their home country since many Nigerians abroad are very cynical about the vaccine and don’t trust it for many reasons of their own.
Nigerian authorities are also notorious for exploiting such mandates, and will no doubt question the legitimacy of some of those with evidence of vaccinations in pursuit of bribes to be allowed into the country.