In the last five months, over 1,900 Nigerian travelers tested positive for COVID-19 when they landed at their destinations abroad.
Prof. Oyewale Tomori, Chairman, Ministerial Experts Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Response, revealed on Thursday in Ibadan that this is despite testing “negative” before leaving Nigeria.
According to him, the significant number of positive COVID-19 test results recorded by international health authorities outside Nigeria indicated that some Nigerians were fabricating the results.
Tomori, a virology professor, was giving the keynote presentation at the Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP) 2021 Health Week at University College Hospital in Ibadan.
“COVID-19 vaccination: The Facts and Myths,” he said.
“We received information from the ports of entry in the last four to five months that some travelers who left Nigeria with negative COVID-19 test results tested positive upon arrival in countries such as the United Kingdom, Ghana, and Mali.”
“There are two ways to look at it: either they left the nation with phony results or they were negative a day or two before they left.”
“However, the overwhelming number of positives at international entrance ports provides the idea that many of them fled Nigeria with faked results,” he said.
The renowned virologist said that faking COVID-19 test results for travels had adverse implications such as continued spread of the virus around the globe and loss of credibility by Nigeria.
“With the consistent large number, my fear is that they are sending out a lot of people with forged results.
“It is becoming known that some Nigerians, who don’t get tested, are presenting forged negative test results, which is a shame because we don’t have a system in the country to check this.
“It has to be people from outside who are discovering this and this brings a lot of shame to the country; we lose respect and we lose credibility,’’ Tomori stressed.
The virologist has called for increased testing, a fundamental in the fight against the dreaded virus.
Tomori also said that as of Oct. 4, only 3,090,114 samples had been tested in Nigeria.