It has been reported that a delegation of officials from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) who paid a visit to the Kogi State Government House on Thursday to ascertain the COVID-19 status of the State reportedly refused to be quarantined and tested as required by protocol, fleeing the State to avoid the measures.

Kogi, along with Cross River State, is yet to record a single confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, a contagion which has affected over 3,000 people in the other States, with 107 deaths so far.

The officials of the NCDC were sent to Kogi to assist the State in responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

The officials were received by State Governor Yahaya Bello, who thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 for rising to the occasion in battling the virus, saying that the world must unite to defeat the pandemic, as he reeled out the measures adopted by the State to flatten the curve on the spread of the virus.

Governor Bello said the State, in its resolve to comply with NCDC protocols, required that the visiting officials be placed in quarantine for fourteen days and have their samples taken for COVID-19 test. He predicated his decision on the fact that the officials had come from an infected area.

The officials had, however, refused to be subjected to testing and returned to Abuja.

The State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, displeased by the development, told newsmen that the NCDC should come down hard on its officials for violating its rules.

“Today, the governor showed the statesmanship in him once again by appreciating the support of the NCDC and defending the health interests of his people.

“NCDC quarantined the Chinese professionals that came to give them technical support and also took their samples for test. It is a normal practice and protocol set by NCDC.

“So NCDC will have a lot to explain as to why its officials refused to test for COVID-19. How can we be sure of their status? What are their fears? Why did NCDC send people who are afraid of the test to our State? What was their intention?

“The officials that came have done an integrity blow to the works of the NCDC. Is there something they are hiding? It is time NCDC opened up and apologise to the good people of Kogi State.

“How will they encourage people to go for test when its own officials are afraid of test? This is sad,” the commissioner said in his remarks.

Efforts to reach NCDC on the matter has proven abortive.