Edo flags off ‘Operation Show Your Vaccination Card’ before granting entry to Secretariat

Edo State Government on Tuesday flagged off the Operation Show your vaccination card and have refused entry of unvaccinated civil servants and visitors to its Secretariat.  

The operation was supervised by the state’s Head of COVID-19 Enforcement Team, Mr Yusuf Haruna, who manned the main gate opposite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission office in the Government Reserved Area.

The other enforcement team positioned themselves at other entry points of the Secretariat and requested vaccination cards as a requirement to gain entry. Those without their vaccination cards were sent back home. 

While some civil servants expressed shock that the government eventually enforced the directive after weeks of making threats, some others loitered around the Secretariat premises hoping they would later be granted entry. 

When quizzed on the sustainability of the campaign,  Haruna stated that the government embarked on the move to save lives. 

 “What is important is that where there is a will, there is a way. Governor Godwin Obaseki had demonstrated that the state wants to save lives by dishing out this directive,” he said. 

“We expect little hitches at the take-off but there will be an improvement as we move on. I am also sure that the people will also want to see if the government is serious about the directive. And with what we had said today, we are demonstrating that the government is ready to save lives in the state.

“I am sure that those who did not come with their vaccination cards today and were sent back home to bring them will not make a similar mistake tomorrow. It is clear that many of the workers have taken the vaccine but they are yet to get used to the practice of going about with their cards.

“With the media giving what we are doing here the necessary publicity, people will know the need to comply with the directive.”