Following the rising cases of COVID-19 in countries around the world, the Federal Government of Nigeria has directed that international travellers to Nigeria would now be required to show evidence of Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination. This was disclosed by the Director of Port Health Services, Geoffrey Okatubo, during a media briefing at the Ministry of Health on Monday, in Abuja.
According to The Will Nigeria, this is coming just a month after the federal government relaxed the COVID-19 regulations in December 2022. However, Okatubo said pre-departure and post-arrival PCR test requirements for all persons who are not fully vaccinated have been suspended. He noted that all passengers would 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”, he said, adding that port health services had 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.
