April 03, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government of Nigeria has waived PCR tests for all air passengers, who are fully vaccinated.
With the new development, in-bound passengers to Nigeria, who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are no longer required to carry out COVID-19 PCR test before boarding Nigeria-bound flights.
In the same vein, fully vaccinated passengers arriving Nigeria will not be required to carry out post arrival PCR test or a Rapid Antigen Test upon arriving in the country.
These new waivers were contained in the revised Travel Protocol released on Saturday April 2, 2022 and signed by the Presidential Steering Committee on Covid-19 Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation/ Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha.
In the revised travel protocol document, the Federal government said the protocol is a revision of the Travel Protocol released on November 29, 2021 Interim Travel Guidelines for Passengers arriving in Nigeria.
According to the document, children below the age of 18 years will be accorded the same privileges as persons who are fully vaccinated;
It further added that in-bound passengers who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated for COVID-19 shall take a COVID-19 PCR test 48 hours before departure and undergo Days 2 and 7 post-arrival PCR tests at their own cost.
The document, however, explained that passengers who are not able to show evidence of full vaccination will be treated as unvaccinated/partially vaccinated under this protocol.
According to the document, “full vaccination for COVID-19 refers to a person who received two doses of any of the following COVID-19 vaccines at least two weeks before the date of Travel. They are Pfizer/ Bio-Ntech, Moderna, Oxford Astra-Zeneca, Sputnik, Sinopharm, Sinovac, COVAXIN COVOVAX and Nuvaxovi.
However, persons who received a single dose of these vaccines are considered not fully vaccinated: A Single dose of any of the following COVID-19 vaccines: Jensen (Johnson and Johnson), Sputnik Light.”
The document added that, “all in-bound passengers MUST register via the online Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP), while it encouraged all passengers travelling out of Nigeria to have evidence of full vaccination against COVID-19, comply with the COVID-19 guidelines of their destinations or transit countries; and familiarise themselves with the COVID-19 travel requirements of their destinations and transit countries before embarking on their journeys.”
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
