An Abuja based lawyer, Mr Obioma Ezenwobodo, has described the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill 2020 which is pending before the House of Representatives as “Obnoxious” and “Unconstitutional”
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The bill is being sponsored by the Speaker of the House, Mr. Gbajabiamila.
In an opinion made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL), the Abuja lawyer said he has read the draft of the bill and the same seeks to amend the Quarantine Act 1926. He said he was “amazed at its obnoxious and draconian contents.”
He argued that the bill was 90% lifted from the “obnoxious Singapore’s Infectious Disease Act of 1977 that was made when the country was under a utilitarian regime. To now impose such odious legislation on a democratic society is totally wrong and unacceptable.” he said
Ezenwobodo further argued that some of the provisions of the bill offend the fundamental rights of the citizens and “arrogate both legislative and judicial powers on the President, Minister of Health and the Director-General of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).”
He went ahead to mention some of the provisions in question.
Ezenwobodo said:
“–Sec. 3 of the Bill gives wide discretionary power to the President to declare public health emergency without resort to the court or any other authority. This power should be circumscribed by other arms of the government.
“–Sec. 6 arrogates on the D.G of NCDC an open-ended ans unrestrained power to order any person he suspects of being infected with an infectious disease to submit to a medical examination or medical treatment within or at such time, and at such place, as he may determine. Failure to obey this order amounts to a criminal offence.
“–Sec. 11 gives the D.G power to destroy and dispose of infected animals, food and water he solely considers infected without recourse to the court or payment of compensation to the owners. This provision does not capture the harsh economic reality of our time.
“-Sec. 13 strangely arrogates on the D.G the power to ride roughshod on the constitutional right to freedom of movement by empowering him to detain or isolate anyone he is suspected of being infected with an infectious disease.
“–Sec. 15, without reason, logic or the constitution, arrogates on the Minister of Health with the omnibus power to declare any premises to be an isolation area. This is against the right to compulsory acquisition of property.
“–Sec. 16 and 17 are ridiculous and dictatorial at the same time. It arrogates to the D.G the power to direct the owner or occupier of a building to abate overcrowding for the purposes of preventing diseases and closure and disinfection of infected premises respectively. Failure to abide by any of these directions amounts to criminal offence and an aggrieved person has within 7 days from the date of the notice, appeal to the Minister whose decision shall be final. Imagine the Minister arrogating the judicial power of the court herein?
“–Sec. 24 states that an enforcement officer, may obtain an order of court, to destroy any building in which a case of infectious disease has occurred, or of any article or thing which may be considered necessary in the interest of the public health. One wonders why not disinfect instead of destroying peoples properties?
“–Sec. 47 is the most contentious. It arrogates to the D.G the power to order any person or class of persons to be vaccinated. This is in utter breach of the fundamental right to dignity, freedom of thought and privacy. There is no known democratic society where people are forced to vaccinate…vaccination is a choice and is achieved through enlightenment and education.”
Ezenwobodo concluded that we “urgently need a relevant law to fight this COVID-19 pandemic but definitely not an obnoxious Bill like the one under consideration. The best the legislature can do at this juncture is to discard this obnoxious draft Bill and conduct a wild consultation with relevant stakeholders in order to come up with a suitable and homegrown Bill that meet the exigencies of our Constitution. They owe Nigeria this responsibility.”
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