Adenike Olakunle, a Nigerian lady resident in the UK, has accused the Nigeria Centre of Disease Control of (NCDC) and Lagos State Government of fraudulently holding on to her of N152, 862 over COVID-19 test.

On Saturday, a day before her scheduled flight to Nigeria, Adenike made a payment to Lagos Biobank for the mandatory in-country COVID-19 test. She was, however, denied boarding at the airport owing to delay by the NCDC in confirming the payment.

“World people, I made a successful payment a day before my scheduled flight to the @LagosBiobank @NCDCgov account and I received @theflutterwave payment receipt but the QR page still showed UNPAID,’ she wrote on Twitter.

“I initially thought I could proceed with the journey and it would be fine just showing them the receipt at the airport. I got to Heathrow Airport; the airline said they would not allow me to board except the QR code is showing that I had paid.”

Faced with chances of missing her flight, Adenike repeated the transaction at the airport hoping to get the confirmation instantly. But she only got a debit alert and a receipt. The same thing happened when she paid, the second time on the spot, with a Nigerian GT Bank card.

“Right there and then, I was debited and I got another receipt of payment but the QR page still showed UNPAID. At this time, the airline staff was already counting down to departure. With the fear of missing my flight, or having to pay to reschedule, I called a few friends and I asked someone to send me her card details @gtbank. I used it to make another payment (with the hope that this one should be faster). That made it three payments to @LagosBiobank and @NCDCgov. Still, it showed UNPAID,” said Adenike.

“The flight attendants told me, unfortunately, I could not board again as the plane was now closed and ready to fly. With tears and disappointment in my heart, I was calling everyone to help me but to no avail. I was given the option to reschedule to the following day or go to Abuja the same day at night. I chose Lagos for the following day with the hope that my QR close would have been changed to PAID. This cost me an additional £169 that I could give to my family to cater for some things.”

Adenike got a confirmation on the fourth payment, after applying to do the test out of Lagos. She landed in Nigeria the following day hoping that the unconfirmed payments would be refunded, but despite all her efforts, she got nothing.

“At this point, I have been forced to believe that the @LagosBiobank @NCDCgov @jidesanwoolu @Fmohnigeria have decided to defraud the citizens of their hard-earned. I am not ready to let go of my 152,862 NGN just like that. I must get a refund,” she said.

FIJ’s emaail to NCDC has not been replied as of press time.