COVID-19: Lagos Suspends Staff Over Misconduct In PCR Test Payments Arrangement For Inbound Passengers

The Lagos State Government has suspended staff of the government-appointed firm charged with the responsibility of collecting COVID Polymerase Chain Reaction PCR test payments and connecting passengers to approved designated private COVID PCR test centers over alleged misconduct.

Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, disclosed this on Saturday, in reaction to media reports on Friday, October 22, 2021, titled; ‘Passengers Refuse to Pay PCR Test Fee into Private Account’; wherein it was reported that inbound passengers at the Murtala International Airport refused to remit mandatory PCR test fee payments into a private account belonging to a member of staff of the government-appointed firm charged with the responsibility.

Abayomi in a statement, however clarified that an arrangement involving the payment of fees into a personal account was necessitated by the need to ameliorate the plight of passengers who complained of poor turnaround time at the airport in the confirmation of test fees paid, all affected passengers of interest were issued a physical receipt to serve as proof of payment.

The statement read in part: “The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to a news report of Friday, October 22, 2021 titled, ‘Passengers Refuse to Pay PCR Test Fee into Private Account. For the avoidance of doubt, it is pertinent to state that the Lagos State Government through the Ministry of Health officially began the collection of payments of COVID-19 PCR tests from inbound passengers at the Murtala Muhammed Int. Airport on the 15th of September 2020 through the services of its contracted partners for a smooth implementation of the mandatory COVID protocols as declared by the Federal Government for inbound passengers.

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“We are aware that access to the National registration and payment portal for COVID-19 has been challenging. Many countries around the world do not permit a passenger to board a flight without showing proof of such registration and booking for post arrival testing in addition to a negative PCR test done 72 hours prior to departure.

“To date, the Lagos State Government has been able to assist over 11,000 inbound passengers who were unable to register prior to departure for Lagos by connecting them to approved designated private laboratories in line with the protocol.

“It is important to note that the provision of the option to pay the test fee in the country was introduced to prevent passengers being denied the right to board flights destined for Nigeria without a proof of registration and payment with a generated e-receipt.

“Our contracted partners have always supported passengers who experience payment difficulties to ensure that they comply with the Federal protocols while payments for the tests are collected at the point of arrival in Lagos and remitted to the assigned laboratories for the mandatory Day 7 test.

“Following the allegation, a detailed forensic audit for the period in question was commenced to track all payments made by passengers in-country, and initial results revealed that all payments due to the assigned Laboratories collected from inbound passengers have been duly accounted for.