Nigeria bans its public service officials from travelling outside the country, stops issuance of visa and restricts from COVID-19 prone countries
The Presidential Task Force for the control of Coronavirus has been set up in March and in its first directives announced the ban on “all public officials in the ministries, department and agencies, including parastatals, that government for whatever reasons.”
“Whether for meetings, bilateral or multilateral conferences, seminars, workshops, presentations, negotiations and other forms of ceremonies, this ban will remain in force until the situation of Coronavarius abates.”
Nigeria is restricting entry into the country for travellers from 13 countries including the US and the UK. The other countries are China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and Switzerland, according to a travel advisory by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
No visa will be issued for travellers from those countries for the time being and those returning prior to the restriction will be in supervised self-isolation, monitored by the NCDC and Port Health Services.
Meanwhile in North Africa, Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) have partnered to launch LeadTech Incubation Programme. The programme was unveiled for the first time during the AWIEF 2020 International Women’s Day event on 9 March in Lagos, Nigeria.
Lamia Housni, head of P-Curiosity Lab at UM6P, said, “The launch of this programme comes at a particular moment when our African citizens are having to change their habits and isolate themselves to reduce the spread of the global pandemic coronavirus disease, COVID-19. LeadTech programme becomes more than ever necessary for the development of our continent since it places digital as a solution to deliver services to our communities, essential to their socio-economic inclusion, environmental health, and sustainability of their activities.”
