Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has raised the alarm that Nigerians who arrived from abroad fail to present themselves for the in-country PCR test which they signed up to and paid for before arrival.
Mr. Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, who raised the red flag, warned that government would not hesistate to impound passports of those involved.
“As you may recall, the PTF announced the guidelines on the reopening of the airspace and the obligations of arriving passengers. The PTF similarly announced sanctions as a consequence of any infraction. Having observed serious non-compliance to the level of 65 percent, the need has arisen to activate the sanctions which includes the suspension of the passports of such defaulting individuals for a period of six months minimum.”
Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of PTT, Dr. Sani Aliyu, said N50 billion has been released to states by the Federal Government.
He has, therefore, urged governors to use these resources for the purpose that the Federal Government has given, warning that there has to be continuous investment in making sure that the pandemic comes down, adding that the curves of the pandemic have not flattened.
Aliyu, who spoke at Tuesday media briefing by the PTF also said massive testing for COVID-19 begins this week.
The PTF coordinator has also disclosed that a list of the first 100 passports of passengers that have failed to show up for the test at day 14 since arrival will be published once it is established they had no cogent reason for their failure to turn up for testing at day seven.
He said: “This week marks the beginning of a major initiative of increased testings for COVID-19 in the country. Congratulations to Lagos and FCT for testing at least 81 percent of their population.
“In fact FCT has tested at least two percent of their population of the target we had given. Three states are well on their way – Plateau, Gombe and Rivers. They have already gone beyond 50 percent mark of the target. But quite a number of states have not even reached even a quarter and we continue to be concerned because, we can say with a fair decree of confidence that we know what is happening in Lagos and FCT when it comes to COVID-19 but we cannot say the same of other states.
“So, we thank all states governors for opening up sample collection centers across the country. We have given resources to state governments. Every state has received at least a billion naira, the states government have received the largest single bulk of the PTF intervention. As of today, a total of N50 billion went to states. So we have have enough resources at the state level to be able to push for increased testing and improved surveillance.