COVID-19: Experts discourage disinfection tunnel in JAMB offices

Experts at a virtual colloquium organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Tuesday described the use of disinfection tunnel(Safety tunnels) and fumigation for the prevention of COVID-19 as a useless enterprise.

The participants also agreed that hand washing for at least 40 seconds, regular use of face mask, and other scientific-proven preventive measures would help in cutting down the spread of the coronavirus.

During the event organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Defence Academy and Premium Times, the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ish-aq Oloyede, said, “What brought JAMB into this was that we wanted to do the  disinfection tunnel (Safety tunnel/ for all of our state branches and it costs a lot of money. When there were doubts, we needed to bring people together. We didn’t want to do something wrong.”


At the event, the Coordinator of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Aliyu Sani, said, “There is no absolute evidence that this (disinfection tunnel) is effective; that is why at the national level, we have taken it out. This disinfectant could be less effective than washing hands.”

Sani’s submission was also corroborated by the majority of other participants, including the Heads of Microbiology Departments of tertiary institutions.

But the Executive Vice Chairman of National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, Muhammed Haruna, picked holes in the non-effectiveness of safety tunnels, saying such arguments were not backed by clinical evidence.


According to him, the advisory by the World Health Organisation on the non-effectiveness of the product can be reviewed in not too distant time.