Speaker House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila on Tuesday directed the arrest and prosecution of owners and staff of private laboratories involved in issuance of fake COVID-19 certificates across the country.
He gave the directive during an interactive session with heads of various Agencies and Parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Aviation in his office Abuja.
Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, also stressed the need for the establishment of agency such as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that would regulate activities of operators within the Nation’s airports.
The Speaker who expressed concern over the presence and activities of touts and other miscreants at the airports who engaged in extortion of unsuspecting travellers and other unethical practices, called for deliberate actions towards ending the menace.
In a remark, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa confirmed that some individuals who presented fake COVID-19 certificates were arrested and handed over to the Department of State Security (DSS) for prosecution.
On the reliability of the test carried out by private laboratories, he argued that some of the private laboratories might not be involved in the fake COVID-19 certificates
On his part, Director of Port Health, Dr. Godfrey Oratubo affirmed that the agency had so far laid-off 20 private staff and 3 permanent staff in Lagos as well as 9 private staff in Abuja
While stressing that the Port Health Agency is under-staffed, he disclosed that the Ministry of Health had initiated a process to get waiver for the recruitment of permanent staff with a view to strengthen its operations.
SALIHU TSIBIRI