By XINHUA

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Nigeria will compel federal civil servants to show proof of vaccination against Covid-19 before gaining access to their offices from December 1.

The move, the government says, is to encourage the vaccination rate across the country.

Boss Mustapha, the chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on Covid-19, said government workers will need to present negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests conducted within 72 hours, in the alternative, to have access to offices.

He added that an appropriate service-wide advisory or circular would be issued to guide the process. 

"Statistics generated over the last four weeks on testing have shown that the trend of infection is going down in some states, while in others, the trajectory is upward," the government's spokesman said. 

He added that the combined total for testing by PCR and rapid diagnostic tests now stands at about 3,141,795 since the onset of the pandemic in the most populous African country.

Nigeria targets to vaccinate at least 40 percent of its population by the end of this year, and 70 percent by the end of 2022.

So far, it has fully vaccinated just one percent of its more than 200 million people.