“In the last two weeks, the number of travellers who have tested positive after the 7th day test has increased.”
Many passengers travelling in and out of Nigeria are finding ways to breach the government enforced COVID-19 safety and testing protocols, especially in Nigeria’s two major airports – the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos.
This may have contributed to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases which has put the nation on the precipice of its worst stretch of the pandemic till date, health experts say.
Since the resumption of international flights in Nigeria on September 5, after months of lock down due to COVID-19, passengers flying in and out of the country have been facing varying degrees of challenges following the safety protocols put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
While many in connivance with federal officials are finding ways to bypass the protocols, others are just not abiding due to weak enforcement systems by the relevant authorities, checks by PREMIUM TIMES showed.
Repeat tests
Passengers flying into Nigeria are required to carry out a COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test at least 96 hours before entering the country, and the result of the test is to be updated to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s Nigeria International Travel Portal.Although passengers must present a negative PCR test result before boarding aircraft travelling to Nigeria, they are also required to pay for COVID-19 PCR repeat tests that would be carried out on them when they arrive in the country.
A man is being tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria [PHOTO: TW: @NCDCgov]
A man is being tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria [PHOTO: TW: @NCDCgov]
They are required to complete online payment for the repeat test before travelling to Nigeria but those who are unable to do so are allowed to pay on arrival in Nigeria.
“Passengers will be allowed to proceed and exit the airport once they can show evidence of a negative COVID-19 PCR result and evidence for payment for a repeat PCR result in the country; and where possible, where we have been able to get the health questionnaires that have been submitted”, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu said while briefing journalists on the government enforced COVID-19 protocols about ten days before resumption of international flights.“Passengers will be asked to proceed on self-isolation at home for a period of seven days. On Day 7, they will proceed to their sample collection centre for a repeat PCR test and by Day 8, they will be allowed to rejoin the society.
“Passengers will be monitored by public health officers throughout the period of isolation and those who develop symptoms will be treated.”
Mr Aliyu said the PTF and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have designed a system that will “allow us to determine those that have not submitted themselves for a repeat COVID-19 PCR test from Day 7 onward”.
“These passengers may be sanctioned with the inclusion on a travel watch list or their electronic passport suspended for a period of time if they refuse to have a repeat PCR test,” Mr Aliyu said.
Bypassing COVID-19 repeat tests
But despite these protocols and sanctions in place, about 12 passengers, particularly Nigerians who arrived in the country within the past one month, told PREMIUM TIMES they did not go back for the repeat tests.Some said they did not observe the seven days’ isolation and no health official monitored their compliance.
A journalist who flew into the country from Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast, about two weeks ago, shared her experience. She asked that her name not be included in this report to avoid any possible sanctions.
“When we arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe airport Abuja, the Port Health Service (PHS) officials asked if I had paid for the repeat tests after I showed them my negative PCR tests from Abidjan. I said no, so they gave me a form to fill and I filled the form
