Federal Government on Monday said it was working to trace and sanction Nigerians who travel with fake documents to avoid the seven-day post-Covid arrival tests.
Secretary to the government of the Federation and chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus Response, Boss Mustapha, speaking at a national briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF) on Monday, said the travellers avoid the tests after paying the mandatory fee to private laboratories.
Mustapha, who stated that the PTF had been evaluating the compliance of Nigerians with the protocol for testing by in-bound and out-bound travellers, said the PTF “discovered that some of these travellers have indulged in presenting fake documents.”
According to Mustapha, “Some that have paid for post-arrival testing have failed to show up for the tests. Statistics show the following as at 9/11/2020.” Out of the total of 91,522 bookings, 5470 or 6% of the passengers are exempted from payments. The number of children for the period was 1,248 or 1.36%, Diplomats: 3,392 (3.7%) and Evacuees: 830 (0.9%).
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Total passengers expected to pay: 86,052 (94%), the number of people who paid are 46,982 (54.6%), while those who did not pay are 39,070 (45.45%).
He announced that travellers that have arrived in-country but have not paid, amount approximately to 39,000.
According to him, “amount paid to private labs by passengers who have refused to take the post-arrival seven-day test: N220 – N270 million.
“The PTF is concluding steps to work with relevant institutions and legal authorities to impose appropriate sanctions on those that default on the protocols.”
He noted that now that European airlines have joined others operating into Nigeria, the PTF still considers it highly necessary to caution as always, against non-essential trips (especially to high burden destinations) because the world is now experiencing a new wave of the pandemic, more than ever before.
