By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
Following concerns of Nigerians regarding the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP), COVID-19 testing pre- and post- arrival in Nigeria, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC, said that the portal is a measure to help limit the risk of importation and spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria.
According to a statement by the NCDC, the NITP was developed by the private sector and is managed by Nigerians in the public sector as one of several measures introduced to limit the risk of importation and spread of COVID-19 in our country, adding that although there is challenges in functionality of payments by individuals using foreign cards, work is ongoing for improvement.
While the NITP site is hosted on NCDC’s domain, all funds for testing purposes are paid through the bank to the accredited private laboratories. NO FUNDS from private testing are received by NCDC. COVID-19 testing in government laboratories remains free of charge for public health purposes.
Testing for personal purposes such as travel are paid for by individuals to be conducted in private laboratories.
The current travel advisory and public health safety measures are under review by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 and will be updated shortly.
Meanwhile, the epidemic agency reiterated its commitment to deliver on its mandate, which includes strong response to COVID-19 and other concurrent disease outbreaks in Nigeria.
