Market News

By Temidayo Akinsuyi

LAGOS – The Lagos State govern­ment has suspended Williams Oladipupo, a 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 centres, over alleged misconduct.

It also said it has started a fo­rensic audit on the amount paid so far by passengers traveling into the country, promising that the details of the audit would be made public.

Some United Kingdom (UK) returnees had protested last week when authorities at the airport asked them to pay the sum of N51,950 into a personal account belonging to one Oladipupo Wil­liams. The original fee required by the Federal Government is N50,400.

Those who did not have nai­ra were asked to pay in foreign currency. They were debited 95 pounds each.

The passengers who were handed over a note that read, ‘1433844324, Access Bank, N51,950 Williams Oladipupo’, queried why they should pay money be­longing to the government into a private account.

Prof. Akin Abayomi, the state’s Commissioner for Health, who issued a statement in reac­tion to the exclusive report by Daily Independent on Friday, October 22, 2021, with headline, ‘Passengers Refuse To Pay PCR Test Fee Into Private Account’ wherein it was reported that in­ bound pass eager sat the Murtala International Airport refused to remit mandatory PCR test fee into a private account belonging to a member of staff of the gov­ernment-appointed firm charged with the responsibility.

He, 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 entitled, ‘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 in ­bound passengers at the Mur­tala Muhammed International Airport on the 15th of Septem­ber 2020 through the services of its contracted partners for a smooth implementation of the mandatory COVID-19 protocols as declared by the Federal Government for in bound passengers.

“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 aflight with out showing proof of such registration and booking for post arrival testing in addition to a negative PCR test done 72hours 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, ade­tailed 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.

“The final report of this audit would be made available to the public, and if any unscrupulous acts are detected, these would not go unpunished by any individu­als indulging in them.

“Whilst it is valid to note 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 and till date, we have not received any report of passengers not getting e-receipt via mail after payment.

“Despite this, the named indi­vidual has been suspended from his engagement pending the outcome of the ongoing investi­gation. This action was taken be­cause the stop-gap intervention was carried out without prior approval from his organisation and/or the Lagos State govern­ment.

“We have also ordered that this practice to assist passengers on arrival be discontinued immediately, and passengers hould be required to wait at the airport till their payments are confirmed by the financial institution.

“Therefore, it is important to ensure that booking and pay­ments are made by inbound pas­sengers prior to departure from their originating country(s) to avoid being delayed on arrival.

“This situation will be ame­liorated when a newer version of the national online portal, which has been harmonised with the Lagos State platform, is launched by the end of the month of October 2021.

“Once this new and more efficient portal is launched, it is likely that passengers will not be able to board their flights bound for Nigeria with out confirmation of registration and payment for mandatory post arrival PCR testing as is the practice in most parts of the world.

“These are all necessary protocols to avoid importation of dan­gerous strains that may trigger a 4th wave in Nigeria. You will recall that the Presidential Steering Committee has recently relaxed these arrival protocols in line with international best practices effective from the 25th of October.

“We fully under stand and support the grouse and suspicions being expressed by certain pas­sengers, particularly regarding this stop-gap payment options.

“Going forward, the public should be aware that there are arrays of payment options avail­able for the mandatory PCR test which include payments using both credit or debit cards on the online platform, direct transfers to the accredited and responsible financial institution accounts and payments using the PoS machines made available at the airport for passengers that were unsuccessful in making these payments before departure from their country of origin.

“The intermediary payment option that has created this unfortunate scenario ceases to exist going forward because it is in con­sistent with acceptable fiscal and fiduciary transactions.”