Lawmaker Explains Provisions, Limitations Of Quarantine Act, Says Controversy About Bill Too Early

The move by the House of Representatives to repeal the Quarantine Act and enact the 82 sections Control of Infectious Diseases Bill has stirred controversy across the country.

Sponsored by House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, the Bill seeks to strengthen the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and make it more proactive and “not just reactive and function when there is an outbreak.”

The piece of legislation seeks to empower the president, the minister of health as well as the director-general of NCDC, and the institutions they head, to make regulations on quarantining, vaccination and prevention of infectious diseases in Nigeria.

In a reaction during an interview with the Channels TV, which THENIGEIALAWYER(TNL) watched the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, said the controversy that the Bill has elicited from the public is uncalled for because there are procedures with 7 to 8 stages before passing a Bill into an Act in the house. He said the stages include First Reading, Second Reading, Committee Stage etc after which same will be forwarded to the Senate for concurrence

“so the Bill is just commencing a journey for it to become an Act. It has not even done up to three legs and the panic is everywhere and I think for some of us it is deliberate and a little bit political and people are depending on what is trending on social media to judge a bill.” the lawmaker said

He urged the people to stop panicking as same is still undergoing review before the House and same would be debates at the next sitting.

On the scarcity of copies of the Bill, the Lawmaker said it is not part of the practice of the House to produce copies during First Reading. As for the Second Reading, he said it was because the administrative staffs of the House were not on sit due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. They were able to sit that day because special arrangements had to be made.

The lawmaker added that some people have, out of mischief, circulated a Bill different from the one before the House. He further clarified that there is nothing wrong borrowing the bill from Singapore. Those shouting plagiarism got it wrong

“People will always say you copy this and you copy that. Sometimes laws are borrowed. If you find out a particular system that is effective and working in a particular jurisdiction and you have similar situation, nothing stops you from saying we can borrow this kind of thing and adjust it to meet our needs. Is allowed.”

TNL recalls that Nigerians have raised varying concerns about the bill on Twitter. While some welcomed some provisions of the bill, many of the commentators on the microblogging site opposed it.

Those who opposed the bill see it as draconian as its section 48 proposes that the director-general of the NCDC “may by order” direct unvaccinated persons “to undergo vaccination or other prophylaxis within such period as may be specified in the order.”

Also, sections 55 and 56 of the bill say the DG of NCDC and the police may at “any time without warrant” enter, inspect and search any premises or conveyance where a suspected outbreak has taken place.

Others noted that the wording of the bill has a striking semblance with Singapore’s Infectious Diseases Act of 1976, which was introduced under the dictatorship of Lee Kuan Yew.