The Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 says the Nigeria International Travel Portal (www.nitp.ncdc.gov.ng) will undergo a system upgrade between November 2 and 4.

The chairman of PSC, Boss Mustapha, made this known in a statement on Wednesday.

“The PSC wishes to inform the general public that the Nigeria International Travel Portal (www.nitp.ncdc.gov.ng) will be undergoing system upgrade between November 2 and 4, 2021.

“As a result, travellers may experience intermittent downtimes during this period. Travellers are encouraged to log on to the portal at their earliest convenience as well as make multiple attempts if they experience difficulty.

“However, the public should note that alternative arrangement has been made to manually register passengers who are not able to register on the portal upon arrival in Nigeria,” he said.

The chairman said that the PSC sincerely regrets the inconvenience this might have caused outbound and inbound passengers. 

Inbound passengers are required to present evidence of negative Covid-19 test results upon arrival to Nigeria, alongside evidence of a pre-booked repeat test (only bookable via the NCDC NITP portal).

Some users reported the error message that says the service is unavailable.

“The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later,” the message reads.

They said that the unavailability of the NITP poses a serious challenge that will have far-reaching ramifications for Nigeria’s effort towards containing the spread of Covid-19.

They say it would also give room for manipulation.