By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
As the plan by the federal government of Nigeria to make Covid-19 vaccination compulsory for civil servants in the country continue to generate controversy, some workers in Rivers State have called for suspension of the plan.
They insisted that the directive on mandatory vaccination before December amounts to a threat and violation of their rights as free citizens of Nigeria. The workers, who spoke during an opinion-sampling chat with TPCN on Friday in Port Harcourt, noted that although some of them have been vaccinated, what should be made compulsory is the observation of Covid-19 protocols.
“I heard the news on Wednesday and I was like ‘What’s going on?’ Because we have been hearing rumors that they want to force people to take the vaccination, so when that news came, I was like ‘so this is true?’ As a civil servant, I don’t expect that from them because we have been observing the covid protocols since it started.
“If you go to our office at the Secretariat, you will see our water bucket and sanitizer on top. Even the front of the buildings, sometimes they’re there. If you wash your hands well or sanitize, wear your face mask, you won’t.get Covid-19. And now the rate of infection is coming down, so why the compulsion?,” a worker in one of the ministries argued.
A female teacher in one of the popular government-owned secondary schools in Port Harcourt, who also refused to
mention her name, claiming that civil servants are not allowed to talk to the press about government policies, described the mandatory vaccination order for civil servants, if finally enforced, as selective victimisation.
“I don’t believe they will enforce it, because if they do, it will become selective persecution because civil servants are not the only set of people in this country. The politicians are there; the private sector is there, government contractors are there. They’ve not made it compulsory for all these people, why only the civil servants?
“I think what they should do is to encourage everyone to go for the vaccination, not to make it mandatory by force. There are people who don’t believe it’s good for their health. If you force such people, they could go to court to enforce their rights,” she said.
As the issue keeps generating ripples in different quarters, the umbrella body of workers in Rivers State, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has also thrown its weight behind those demaning for withdrawal of the compulsory vaccination directive.
Chairman of NLC in the state, Beatrice Itubo, while speaking on air on Thursday, condemned the order. She said the NLC, as a body, will always support government programmes but that the order should be withdrawn, while workers should continue to comply with all Covid-19 preventive measures.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyers in Rivers State have been commenting on the federal government’s new directive to civil servants on Covid-19 vaccination.
The lawyers maintain that enforcing the compulsory vaccination order following an oral proclamation will be a violation of the rights of civil servants.
According to some of the learned gentlemen, the only way the government can be empowered to implement such an order is by amending the constitution to capture it or enacting a by-law to that effect.
“Anything short of that will be an infringement on the rights of the workers,” one of the human rights lawyers said.
He quickly added: “And let me quickly point out that it’s also proper that in a democratic setting, the government, through the minister of labour and productivity, is supposed to meet, discuss and agree with the labour leaders first before issuing such an order. It’s very undemocratic to wake up one morning and issue a deadline that all government workers must compulsorily take vaccination before a particular time, taking them and their leaders by surprise. Are we still in a military regime?”
