The Nigerian Presidency has announced that visitors to the presidential villa in Abuja would be required to take rapid COVID-19 tests before they would be allowed to gain entrance.
This was disclosed in a statement signed on Tuesday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who said that the new development is not unusual, as it is a growing practice in government offices in other countries.
According to him, every visitor including state governors is required to take the COVID-19 rapid test before entry into the presidential villa.
He explained that the test kits which are issued for free at the gate are a temporary measure against the backdrop of the recent spike in the number of cases of COVID-19 in the country.
It would be recalled that some aides of President Muhammadu Buhari had last week tested positive for the virus.
The Director-General of NCDC, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa in December said Nigeria has recorded a 500% increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks across the country caused by the Delta and Omicron variants.