INTRODUCTION
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So far, we have drunk from the juicy arguments as regards the constitutionality or otherwise of the various regulations made by the President of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR and some state governors like the Lagos state governor Mr Babajide Sanwo olu. Popular among these arguments is that; The Infectious disease regulation of Lagos state derives its validity from the Public Health Law of Lagos state. The Public Health Law 2015 in section 43 and 53 empowers “the Commissioner” to make regulations under the law and as regards issues pertaining to the law. Since the law has delegated the duty of making such regulation on the Commissioner for Health, it is out of place for the Governor, to assume such duty. Nnaemeka-Agu J.S.C. in Co-operative Bank Nig. Ltd. v Anambra State (1992) 8 NWLR (Pt 261) 528 at 556, stated that “it is the law that where a statute provides for a particular method of performing a duty regulated by the statute, that method and no other, must have to be adopted”. Some also say that a regulation is at best a mere order that should not carry sanctions as held in the case of Okafor v. The State of Lagos. There are also arguments that a mere regulation is too light to put to test the fundamental right to the freedom of movement as contained in section 41 of the constitution of Nigeria. However, the arguments of a lot of others can safely remind us of the timeless quote; “Desperate times calls for desperate measures”. While we tap from the wealth of knowledge that can be mined from these arguments, my focus will be on debunking and breaking down into bits the certain provisions of the Quarantine Act. This is important for the purpose of understanding, and to clear the air as to certain arguments in circulation.
THE QUARANTINE ACT
Let us start with a bit of history. The practice of quarantine evolved in or about 1423 in Venice, which had a quarantine station on an island to check the growth of diseases brought by ships, by isolating and detaining ships containing persons or animals suspected of having or carrying a dangerous communicable disease. To this end, ships arriving in Venice from infected ports were required to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing. Quarantine is thus derived from the Italian words “quaranta gioni”, which means 40 days.
The Quarantine Act was enacted in 1926, but added to the compendium of laws as arranged in volumes of the Laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004 and can simply be cited as the Quarantine Act (CAP Q2 LFN 2004). Section 4 provisions (b), (c), (d) of the Quarantine Act enables the President to make regulations for all or any of the following purposes: –
(b) prescribe the introduction of any dangerous infectious disease into Nigeria or any part thereof from any place without Nigeria, whether such place is an infected local area or not; (c) prevent the spread of any dangerous infectious disease from any place within Nigeria, whether an infected local area or not, to any other place within Nigeria; (d) prevent the transmission of any dangerous infectious disease from Nigeria or from any place within Nigeria, whether an infected local area or not, to any place without Nigeria;…
The interpretation section of the Act (section 2) defined “dangerous infectious disease” as cholera, plague, yellow fever, smallpox and typhus, and includes any disease of an infectious or contagious nature which the President may, by notice, declare to be a dangerous infectious disease within the meaning of this Act;
Section 5 which provides for the punishment for anyone who breaches the provisions of the Quarantine Act provides that “Any person contravening any of the regulations made under this Act shall be liable to a fine ofN200 or to imprisonment for a term of six months or to both.” Furthermore section 7 provides that the jurisdiction lie with the Magistrate court to adjudicate on matters as regards to this Act.
After carefully selecting what I think to be the most important provisions of the Quarantine Act, I would look at it collectively and break it down sequentially in piece meal for easy digestion.
THE QUARANTINE ACT DEMYSTIFIED
- The Covid 19 virus falls under the definition of “dangerous infectious disease” hence it can be bound by the provisions of the Quarantine Act. See: Section 2
- The President has the power as derived from this Act to prevent the spread of Covid 19 within Nigeria see: section 4(d)
- The President has the power to prescribe steps to be taken within Nigeria to prevent the spread of the virus. See: section 4(a)
- The president may make regulations generally for the purpose of carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act. See: section 4(g). This evidently means that the regulations made by the President on are legitimately standing on the legal grounds of the Quarantine Act.
- Furthermore the Act states that any person who contravenes any of the regulations made under the Quarantine Act has committed an offence and if found guilty shall be liable to a fine of not more than N200 or to imprisonment for a term of six months or to both. The Quarantine Act says N200, while this is relatively considered cheap, it is the law and till it is amended or repealed it remains the current position. See: Section 5
- Asides the punishment expressly stated by the Act (Fine of N200 or Six months imprisonment or both), any other punishment has no basis in law.
- Finally the punishment can only be meted out by a Magistrate not a Police officer, Presidential task force or any other person or body. It will be appropriate to say Expressio unis est exclusion alterius which means the express mention of something excludes all others.
- It might be imperative to state that where a person is not comfortable with the decision of the magistrate court he has the right to Appeal. This is not stated in the Quarantine Act or in any regulation but it is a constitutional right.
Conclusively, while the insufficiency of this law might have caused certain discrepancies, it is still the operative Law. Fortunately the Infectious Disease bill is already at the second reading stage and will soon be passed. Hopefully it will clear all discrepancies and close all lacunas encapsulated in the Quarantine Act. But till then, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.
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