‘It’s a rip-off’:..Passengers tackle port officials, many stranded
Passengers from several countries are having a hard time with port officials at the Lagos and Abuja International Airports following conflicting Covid-19 post arrival tests.
The New Diplomat learnt there was a mild drama at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airports on Saturday, March 26 when passengers that arrived from Senegal queried why they would be forced to pay for post arrival COVID 19 tests after undergoing similar tests in Senegal less than 24 hours ago which showed they were negative.
Many of the passengers who travelled to Senegal for the world water conference were subjected to harrowing experience by security officials who insisted they must pay for another test here in Nigeria.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport some of the passengers narrated that the principle of reciprocity should apply to the treatment of Nigerian travellers who were not mandated to carry out day two tests in Senegal.
One of the passengers who raised the alarm stated that they are being demanded to pay sums ranging from N35,000 to N45,200 to fill the form for the test whose results may not be released until after one week.
Another passenger said, who spoke anonymously said the conflicting policy was a rip off as participants from other African countries did not face the same challenge.
According to her, “this is now a money making venture used to frustrate international travel for Nigerians and foreigners. It is simply unacceptable”
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport the passengers were also subjected to the same treatment. One of them stated that “this is a classic case of exploitation of people in the name of whatever they are calling it. When we got to Senegal, nobody asked us to do another post arrival test because we had done one we did in Nigeria. They only gave us a negative form to fill which we did.
“Now on leaving Senegal this morning, we did our tests and the results are. Why would they not accept the results like they did in Senegal instead of subjecting us to another test and payment? This is bad. This is exploitation and we will resist it”.
He wondered why Nigerians could be so treated in their own country.
They urged the Federal Ministry of Health and the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) to step into the issue to save Nigerians embarrassment and frustration of legitimate travel.
The New Diplomat had reported that the Nigerian Government, last Tuesday, announced that fully vaccinated inbound travellers entering Nigeria will no longer be required to take pre-departure PCR COVID tests.
This announcement was made by the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC), Boss Mustapha during a media briefing in Abuja.
According to Mustapha, the decision to scrap the PCR tests for fully vaccinated passengers was made after a review of situations around the world and the revised international travel protocol.
However, it appears the Nigerian government is still insisting that travellers must take Covid-19 test upon arriving the country, something many Nigerian travellers and foreign nationals had wished scrapped as several countries including the UK, have massively scaled back such stringent travel restrictions implemented during the height of the Covid era.
