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By Levinus Nwabughiogu-Abuja

Speaker of the House of Representatives has called for the arrest and prosecution of health personnel issuing fake COVID-19 certificates.

The Speaker’s call followed a disclosure by the Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Ifedayo Adetifa that some individuals who indulged in the illegal practice were being arrested and handed over to the Department of State Security (DSS) for prosecution.

The DG who appeared during the interactive session of the Committee on Aviation with heads of various Agencies and Parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Aviation said that some corrupt individuals allegedly connive with some officials at the airport for the perpetrate the crime.

This prompted the Speaker to advocate for a law to establish a government agency such as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to regulate the activities of operators within the airports in Nigeria.

He said: “It’s not going to be one of those sessions where there will be no outcomes, I think one of the outcomes will be a law that specifically sets up an agency of government to oversee the operations of the airports like the TSA like I said.

“I think the TSA appears to be the silver bullet that cures most of the things we heard here and the chairmen of the relevant committees in the House led by the Aviation Committee, hopefully, will begin to put this together, hopefully within the next two week, we will have a draft of the bill.

“And if you can work with Mrs Jumoke Oduwole (Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business) will be hands-on, on the ease of doing business. And work with FAAN and all the other agencies as well. So that we can streamline operations at the airports which would include even the issue of the perennial touts. For wants of better words, let me call them, men and women that have no business at the airport.

“So in the next two weeks, let us see the draft so that we can set the ball rolling in the chambers and bring sanity to our airports”.

Responding to question raised by the Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji on the allegation of corrupt practices by personnel of various regulatory agencies at the airports, the FAAN Managing Director, Rabiu Yadudu said that regular meetings were held with the management team on weekly basis with the staff to educate and checkmate their actions.