Tunde Ajaja A controversial bill sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, and two of his colleagues, seeking to empower the Federal Government to convert any pr
operty in the country, including private properties, to isolation centres has continued to attract criticisms.
The new bill, which passed first and second readings at the plenary on Tuesday, was described as, ‘A bill for an act to repeal the Quarantine Act and enact the Control of Infectious DiseaseAct, make provisions relating to quarantine and make regulations for preventing the introduction into and spread in Nigeria of dangerous infectious diseases, and for other related matters.’
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, also at the briefing appealed to people to make their properties available, noting that there was already a surge and that with the plan of the NCDC to do two million tests, there would be more cases, which would give rise to the need for more isolation centres.
Subsection 2 reads, “A notification under subsection shall be effective until the expiration of such period as may be specified in the notification or until it is revoked by the minister, whichever occurs first.” “The Minister may, in making any regulations, provide that any contravention of or failure to comply with any regulation shall be an offence punishable with a fine not less than N500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.
Meanwhile, Section 68, under General Penalties, states that any person guilty of an offence under the Act for which no penalty is expressly provided shall in the case of a first offence be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.
Also on the list are Swine Influenza, Typhoid, Tuberculosis, Yellow Fever, Sexually Transmitted Infections — Chlamydia Genital Infection; Genital Herpes, Gonorrhea; Non-Gonococcal Urethritis; and Syphilis. “The Senate already has a bill on the issue but we have not been able to work on it because of the lockdown. We are already consulting widely on it to make sure that we get things done,” Utazi said.
The party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, told one of our correspondents, “We keep saying it and we will say it again; this government is not democratic in anyway. In democracy, there would be a healthy debate on issues and through that, people would get enlightened and the process would be seen to be free and fair. How can you force a bill through the nose of lawmakers?”
He added, “This proposed derogation of human rights needs to be regulated. As a country grappling with weak democratic institutions and poor democratic culture, I will propose that such powers should be limited to prevent authoritarianism and human rights violations.”A former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Afam Osigwe, on Friday also faulted the provisions and timing of the Quarantine Bill.
Another lawyer, Mr Abubakar Sani, said, “Apart from its provisions that have to do with quarantine, the bill appeared to be ultra vires. Under the Exclusive Legislative List, Quarantine and Drugs are specific items that the National Assembly can legislate on. So, that bill is too wide. They should have restricted themselves to just quarantine and drugs, they cannot pass a law on wide-ranging health matters.
The lawmaker, while responding to a question on whether the House would listen to dissenting voices as the bill is scheduled for third reading on Tuesday, expressed fears that contrary opinions might be overruled. A former member of the Senate, Dino Melaye, on Friday described the bill as “an evil and satanic law initiated to destroy civil and human rights of Nigerians under the guise of infectious diseases control.”
The report partly read, “Aside from the title of the draft legislation: Infectious Disease Act, which was copied verbatim, Parts One to Five of the Nigerian Act containing 63 sections were all lifted from the Singaporean law word-for-word. The exception was the use of ‘Director’ which is replaced with ‘Director-General’ and mentioned over 100 times throughout the document.”, was however led by the Special Assistant to Speaker on New Media, Mr Olakunle Somoye, via his.
When contacted on Friday, both Obi and Sununu, who co-sponsored the bill with Gbajabiamila, said they were not available for comments. While Sununu asked our correspondent to call back as he was on his way back to Abuja, Obi said he would reserve his comments on the alleged plagiarism until he meets with the Speaker.Meanwhile, the NCDC DG said on Friday that none of the 36 states in the country had enough bed spaces for COVID-19 patients.
The state Ministry of Health via its Twitter handle, @LSMOH, said the state had so far discharged 225 patients from its isolation centres.
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