Nigerian music icon Innocent Idibia popularly known as 2Face Idibia has criticized the management of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for frustrating Nigerians trying to travel out of the country.
The music star took to his Instagram page this morning where he called out the organization over its poor work ethics. Idibia who was at the airport slammed the center and its staff over their poor handling of its website portal.
In a series of videos on his Instagram story, the singer revealed that he and some Nigerians were stranded at an airport because the NCDC portal was down.
According to him, there is a compulsory COVID-19 arrival test portal, which collects N50, 000 per passenger but has failed to deliver QR code. He noted that this had gotten them stuck at the airport
“Ridiculous @ncdcgov compulsory covid 19 arrival test portal collects N50k per passenger and fails to deliver QR code. Passengers stranded. Business and personal commitments messed up. Who bears responsibility for this?” he captioned one of the videos.
On his Instagram Stories, he expressed frustration at the way and manner the NCDC staff have caused unnecessary hardship for travelers.
The singer also stated that several calls made to the NCDC office yielded no result as no one answered the call.
2baba said in the video, “NCDC; you people better wake up. You are causing serious hardship for people traveling. You will be at the airport, they tell you to pay or bring several things. What is this? What kind of wickedness is all this one?
“This office knows that people travel every second, yet, they are closed. We called their line, nobody picked up. What kind of evil is that? Just imagine Nigerians stranded at the airport because of some useless people. This is unacceptable. It is annoying. It is annoying. This is wickedness.”
In the Insta stories he posted, he further captioned the videos. “@NCDCGOV This racket has to stop. You’re useless and money thieving portal is becoming embarrassing. @NCDCGOV Wakeup. Answer your phones.
Other passengers expressed their disappointment at the NCDC for causing delays in their flights.
On the NCDC website, it is stated that a pre-boarding COVID-19 PCR test MUST be done within 96 hours before departure.
The website gives a detailed account of what to do to get a QR code [NCDC]
Tests done more than 96 hours before departure are not valid and persons will not be allowed to board. It is also stated that test ranges between N36, 000 to N50, 400 on the payment portal.
However, reporters have made several phone calls and sent a text message to the Director-General of the NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, for his reaction, but it proved abortive as he did not pick the calls or respond to the text message.