The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Prof. Babatunde Salako, has revealed that the Nigerian Police have arrested two suspects for issuing fake COVID -19 results under the name of the institution, NIMR.

He disclosed this information during a press conference in Lagos on Friday, clearing the allegations against the organization that its officials are issuing fake COVID -19 result without conducting test.

Prof. Salako stated that, “As an institute with an unblemished reputation whose vision is promotion of national health and development, it raises a serious concern that our efforts are being sabotaged.

 “We immediately set up an investigative committee headed by Prof. Stella Smith, to come up with facts on the truism or otherwise of the allegation.

“A thorough investigation by the committee revealed that two individuals who were neither staff nor agents of NIMR are behind the issuance of the fake results without testing.

“The suspects namely Enoch Basyan and Fazing Binrah were caught in the act while trying to do COVID-19 test for one of our staff who acted as a patient at the front of a bank at Isolo.

“The suspects are currently at Aswani Police Station and will face the law.”

He affirmed that, “One of our staff who is in charge of the test request form was being interrogated and admitted he mistakenly gave out the forms to some individuals who made away with it without trace.

“If our staff is found guilty in the ongoing interrogation, the staff will be sanctioned in accordance to the extant rules guiding such offence.

“This development has shown some gaps in the COVID-19 response in our institution; from now on, photo identification will be required together with an invitation letter to be admitted for testing.

 “All COVID-19 results from NIMR will be sent electronically using our official email; therefore, any results emanating from any source other than our official website is not our result,” he said.