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The government instructed law enforcement to investigate and prosecute anyone involved
In August, the University of Lagos temporarily closed its doors after positive cases of COVID-19 were reported in hostels on Akoka’s main campus.
Bolu, 23, and Veronica, 24, were among thousands of students whose studies were interrupted.
COVID-19 testing is free at public hospitals in Nigeria, but Al Jazeera students and health professionals have said demand for them far exceeds supply, and results may be delayed by several days, inhibiting public health measures to control the spread of the disease.
There are students from accredited private labs and others to turn to, but they don’t come cheap. Private labs in Abuja, for example, charge up to 36,000 naira ($ 88 at the official exchange rate) for a COVID-19 test. In Lagos, a private test can leave 50,400 naira ($ 123) in someone’s pocket. The monthly minimum wage in Nigeria is only 30,000 naira ($ 73).
Bolu and Veronica said they circumvented the system by paying a repairman 3,000 naira ($ 7.30) to get them a false negative COVID-19 test result from a private lab.
“I don’t even know the [actual] person who did the result, I just paid a friend who works in a lab and then I got the result, ” Veronica told Al Jazeera.
None of them said they even set foot in a testing center.
“I just paid the money and they sent me the result on my email,” Bolu told Al Jazeera.
Both students said the practice of falsifying test results for COVID-19 – the disease caused by the coronavirus that spreads around the world – was prevalent on their campus.
“Most of the results [students submitted] have been tampered with. It wasn’t as if the school was confirming with the labs whether the results were genuine or not. In fact, I could have written any letter and submitted it, ”Veronica said.
The University of Lagos College of Medicine did not respond to Al Jazeera’s multiple requests for comment via email.
But Dr Bamidele Mutiu, director of Lagos State Bio-Bank and specialist in charge of laboratories, insists that anyone who needs a free COVID-19 test in Nigeria can get one.
“The tests are readily available in Lagos state,” he said.
“The stock of reagents, sampling kits and consumables at Lagos State Bio-Bank is more than sufficient for the current response. “
Mutiu added that although results were delayed at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the turnaround time for them is now 24 hours.
But a medical professional who worked with the Coronavirus Center at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) between April last year and August this year told Al Jazeera the results take three to four days within public laboratories.
“There is a shortage of kits for reasons that I don’t know about,” he said. “So it will take them two or three days to get us the sample kits, and to re-test it takes about three or four days to get the results. This means we’ve been dealing with COVID blindly for about a week, which doesn’t make sense. “
Reduce testing costs
Testing is a key weapon in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus, including in Nigeria, where more than 205,000 confirmed cases have been recorded and at least 2,700 people have died from the virus.
Experts say COVID-19 tests are expensive, however, and not just in Nigeria.
“In general, the cost of performing COVID-19 PCR tests is high, along with the running costs of the molecular laboratories where these tests are performed,” Chikwe Ihekweazu, former director general of the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), said told Al Jazeera. “This high cost is not unique to Nigeria alone.”
However, it is more prohibitive for Nigeria than for richer countries.
Forty percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line, according to government figures. Some 20 percent of Nigerian workers have lost their jobs due to disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic and the country is still emerging from its worst recession in four decades. Meanwhile, the annual inflation rate that exceeded 17% in July is eroding purchasing power, especially for poorer households.
“The high cost of PCR testing is not unique to Nigeria. The challenge is the level of poverty, ”said Ifeanyi Nsofor, public health expert and senior member of New Voices at the Aspen Institute.
“Most people cannot afford to pay 40,000 naira ($ 97) for a COVID-19 test. Imagine if you have to do several tests per month.
Nsofor believes the only way for Nigeria to price more affordable private testing for its people is to reduce its reliance on federally funded testing.
“State governments and local councils also need to invest in COVID-19 testing to cut costs,” he told Al Jazeera. “The over-reliance on the federal government is unsustainable. It’s time for health insurance companies in Nigeria to add COVID-19 testing to the list of things they cover. ”
Scared to the bone
Undergraduate Pelumi Oteniya was exposed to the coronavirus in August when her roommate in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos, tested positive for COVID-19.
“The thought of getting in touch with a positive person really spoiled me because I was scared to the bone,” the 21-year-old told Al Jazeera.
Oteniya said his attempts to get tested at a government facility only caused frustration.
“The first center I went to in Shomolu, I was told that there was no testing center and I was referred to another hospital in Shomolu with the same story,” he said. he told Al Jazeera. “I went to another in Akoka but the attendants there were not interested in administering a test, only vaccines which were not available at the time.”
While wealthier countries had the resources to get millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines for their populations, Nigeria, like many developing economies, had to queue up and receive drip doses via the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX) initiative. As a result, just over 2% of the Nigerian population has received at least one vaccine against the coronavirus, according to Our World in Data.
Ihekweazu said the government tasked law enforcement with investigating and prosecuting anyone involved in the production and use of false test results.
“We can’t do it alone; we need Nigerians to support these efforts by using only accredited and approved laboratories and reporting illegal activities to relevant law and health authorities, ” he said.
But public support could prove difficult if Oteniya’s unsuccessful attempts to get a free and timely test result were to be justified.
“All the experiences that I have had [trying to get tested] Somehow gave me a new perspective that what if this COVID wasn’t real? ” he said. “Maybe it was just a way to extort people or maybe Nigerian COVID is different because the way you see COVID in other countries is different. “
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