The Senate on Tuesday resolved to investigate allegations of fake COVID-19 test results to defraud Nigerians in Ghana and the use of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards in Nigeria.
The decision to investigate the allegation against the Ghanaian authorities was an outcome of a motion, following numerous allegations and complaints made by Nigerian travelers isolated at Ghanaian isolation facilities.
The motion titled “Urgent need to conduct investigation on allegation of fake COVID-19 test results being used to defraud Nigerians in Ghana and the obtainment of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards” was sponsored by Senator Yahaya Oloriegbe (APC, Kwara Central).
He said “while the global roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations continues to accelerate, only around one percent of the world’s population have received their full course of injections.”
“Further notes that there is a serious allegation that the Ghanaian authorities are diagnosing Nigerians who travel to their country of testing positive for Covid even after testing negative in Nigeria,” he said.
The senator said “Observes that the Ghanaian authorities, usually, commit Nigerians who visit their country to isolation for two weeks and are made to pay about seventy thousand naira or per day;
“Observes also that this allegation was exposed by a Nigerian artiste, who was told in Ghana that he had Covid-19 even after testing negative at a Nigerian facility in Nigeria. He rejected the result and instead said that it was a fake result. He was deported and kicked out of Ghana by the authorities and proceeded to New York in the United States, where his test result on arrival came out negative.
“Worried that Nigerians traveling to Ghana or through Ghana lamented that they are made to pay almost one million naira while in isolation.
“Further worried that most of the Nigerians traveling to Ghana or through Ghana have alleged that the Ghanaian authorities have made them targets for the purpose of making money;
“Concerned that if this allegation is not properly investigated and addressed, the exploitation will continue, thereby unlawfully taking away the resources of Nigerians in this global economic recession; and
The senate directed its Committees on Health (Secondary and Tertiary), Primary Health and Communicable Diseases and Foreign Affairs to conduct detailed investigations on the two allegations of fake COVID-19 test result being used to defraud Nigerians in Ghana and obtainment or use of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards.
