By Iyema David
The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has clarified some concerns around the use of the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP).
The Director-General, NCDC, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, made the clarification on Monday in Abuja, during the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 National Briefing.
Adetifa, while adding that the current travel advisory and public health safety measures were under review by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 and would be updated shortly.
He noted, “we acknowledge the expressed concerns of Nigerians regarding the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP), COVID-19 testing pre-and post-arrival in Nigeria. We would like to clarify some of these concerns:
“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.
“Despite challenges in the functionalities of the site, mostly related to payments using foreign cards, we have continued to work extremely hard on its 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 is paid for by individuals to be conducted in private laboratories.”
The NCDC boss noted that in the meantime, the NCDC continues to deliver on its mandate, including a strong response to COVID-19 and other concurrent disease outbreaks in the country.
