₦airaland Forum

Expensiverichyb:
Was there a bill for all these you mentioned? Why passing an urgent bill for a virus that's not even too effective here?
Wait a minute, are we talking about the same virus killing people in Spain, Canada, USA, Italy and the rest? it seems the virus is not the same here. Lol

Jokerman:
Bill Gates agent... Well done

A Bill for an Act to repeal the Quarantine Act, and enact the Control of Infectious Diseases bill, has passed a second reading in the House of Representatives.

The bill which was sponsored by the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila seeks to empower the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and make it more proactive. Leading the debate, Gbajabiamila said that the (NCDC) had very little powers to carry out its mandate even though it is a body with great professionals.

Gbajabiamila said that the Control of Infectious Diseases bill, sought to empower the NCDC to make it more proactive and not just reactive and function when there is an outbreak. He said when the bill is signed and becomes law, the NCDC will be empowered and may administer necessary vaccines to curb the spread of pandemics. The lawmaker said that the bill also seeks to make provisions relating to quarantine and make regulations for preventing the introduction and spreading of infectious diseases in Nigeria. Gbajabiamila said that Quarantine Act which had existed for many years, was now ‘primitive and weak’ to meet the current demands. He said that it took the COVID-19 pandemic to realiase the weakness of the Quarantine Act, saying that the Control of Infectious Diseases bill would replace the old provisions with modern ones.

The lawmaker said that the Quarantine Act provided a penalty of N500 for defaulters, but the Control of Infectious Diseases bill was proposing a penalty of between N200, 000 and N5 million. According to Gbajabiamila, the Infectious Diseases bill also seeks to empower the President and the Minister of Health to exercise certain necessary powers at first instance, during any outbreak. The lawmaker, however, said that at second and third instances, the President would have to seek the approval of the National Assembly. The speaker urged members to pass the bill for second and third reading and seek concurrence from the Senate before it was sent to the president for assent. Another member of the House, Nicholas Ossai (PDP-Delta) said that he had looked at the bill and that it was more democratic that the Quarantine Act. He called on members of the house to support the speaker and to pass the bill with the speed of light. However, some lawmakers were not comfortable with the speed at which the Speaker of the House wanted the bill to be passed. Chris Azugbogu (PDP- Anambra), said that the Quarantine Act does not only involved human but animals. He noted as well, that there was need to carry all relevant institutions along to ensure maximum productivity. Rep. Sergius Ogun (PDP-Edo) said that there was need to be very careful with the powers that would be conferred on NCDC to administer vaccines.

According to him, rather than pass the bill and send it to the Senate for concurrence, it should be sent to the relevant committee for more work to be done on it. Also, Rep. Bamidele Salam (PDP-Osun) said that pandemic times such as this, offered an opportunity for all to critically look into procedures and processes of doing things. Salam said that the bill which was supposed to have been circulated among members ahead of debate in line with the procedures of the house, had not been given to him. “I have not seen the bill and I have asked some colleagues around here and they do not have either. “I do not know if the bill compels states to establish centers for emergencies, I do not know if the bill makes it compulsory for palliatives measures under such circumstance. “ I suggest this bill is stepped down and distributed to all members to give us the opportunity to look at it very well,’’ he said. Rep. Nkem Abonta (PDP-Abia) said that he had only seen the title of the bill but had not seen the bill itself. Abonta expressed fear that the vaccination may be made compulsory giving the conspiracy theories all over social media on vaccination. He said if the house was to do away with Public Hearing on the bill which is an integral part of lawmaking, there was need for time for members to critically look at it, before it is passed. “We need to see all the details and make sure we do not create another problem when the bill is passed into law,’’ Abonta said.

The contributions of Abonta and Ogun, attracted a round of applause from some members of the house even though applause was not encouraged in the chambers. Responding, Gbajabiamila appologised to members over his failure to circulate the bill properly, blaming it on the emergency situation in the country. He argued that this was not going to be the first time a bill would be passed on the floor of the house, without proper circulation ahead of debate. Gbajabiamila also argued that Public Hearing was not an integral part of lawmaking, saying that not all bills that had been passed by the house went through public hearings. The speaker urged the house to pass the bill for second and third reading and transmit it to the Senate for concurrence. When the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Ahmed Wase put the matter to vote, most members voted against it but he ruled that the bill be passed for second reading. However, when it was time for consideration of the bill at the Committee of the Whole before it was passed for third reading, Gbajabiamila said that it should be stepped down to Tuesday, June 4, to enable members go through the bill.

horlarlorwor:
When will Oyo begins her own almajirin evacuation?

kikero:
Glo and Airtel are not too good, and 9mobile is not widespread....

Plus MTN was the first mobile provider in the country. Your family and friends and colleagues are more likely to have an MTN line than any network.

Made worse back in the 2001-5 period, when it was a bit difficult sometimes to call between networks...so if you had to call someone back then without problems, you had to get an MTN line in addition to your ECONET line.

pennywys:
The gods are angry with Ganduje for removing Sanusi

Waiting to comment further when this hit the front page

OgaHector:
The virus has gone far in these northern states.. May God heal the north

haymekus:
How do I report a church in my area that has not been obeying the lockdown?

tunary:
This is touching. I hardly give but this makes me want to give out the little i have, BUT I still can't give online because fraudsters are very smart

kponkedenge:
I saw some people celebrating the lock down which will end next week.... I really don't know if most of you guys think at all.

Yes, we all want the lock down to end, but not at the expense of an outbreak waiting to happen.

Before the lock down, we had around 27 cases or so.... So how come we went from 27 to over 1300 during 4 weeks of the lock down.... Do you people even ask yourselves that question?

For people that don't have cars, how will they go to work now because Danfo drivers will never think of safety first, their number one priority is making money... So they'll keep packing you all together....not minding your safety.

We want to copy Ghana by relaxing restrictions, but we are forgetting that Ghana has conducted over 100k tests while we've only managed 10k.

This virus will eventually spread and the second outbreak will be worse than the first we currently have now.

There are a lot of asymptomatic carriers that don't even know they have the virus, so not testing enough people and rushing to open up the economy spells doom.

UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab said that they don't want to rush and open the economy too quickly to avoid a second wave that might be worse than the first and eventually make them lock down the economy for the second time and make people have lack of trust in the handling of the epidemic.

Nigeria saw Ghana opening and want to do follow follow.

This is a very very stupid decision in my part... And it is an accident waiting to happen.

Mynd44:
To those who asked for the lockdown to be lifted, I hope you all know your silly pressures has now brought us here. You will be using ankara facemasks while the government officials use N95.

Now it is up to your immune systems and insha Allah

lafuria1:
Lol. Is not like you guys even liked him one bit. You never voted for him in the first time, you never voted for second term, you blacklisted everyone from southern Kaduna associated with him.

There is nothing He will do that you guys wil like, for him, no point.
You guys don't like him and he doesn't care, you know that for sure.

Cocolatti:
I am From Southern Kaduna and everything Reno wrote up there is the truth about that Snake called El Rufai. I pity Most southerners who are hailing him now. El rufai is one of the most deadliest politicians in Nigeria. Our people in southern Kaduna have been at the receiving end of bigotry and wickedness.

michoim:
As you criminally alleged, what are the Igbos suffering under Buhari? List them...

bolaayenimo:
Who will read this long thing

Beetobee:
I don't support this move but other countries that help their citizens do so from the tax their citizens pay. It's not free money at all. Do we pay our taxes here?

gloriaunobi:
I don't believe this

sapele914:
Keep quiet, Ambode was only referring to The State’s 50% share of VAT, The Local Governments share 35% is for the Local Government, although pursuant to the provisions of The Constitution they share a joint account.