Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, says the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill will be put forward to a public hearing.
He said this on Tuesday in Abuja while addressing members of the House and members of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
Gbajabiamila said that stakeholder contributions would be sought to make improvements to the bill “before being reviewed and debated by the Committee of the Whole”.
“It is from the accumulation of these myriad views, suggestions and good faith critiques from within and outside the House that we will arrive at final legislation that meets the present and future needs of our country, and which we all can support in good conscience,” he said.
He, however, said that the social distancing guidelines under which the House operated presently meant that the usual format of public hearings was not tenable.
“If a socially distant public hearing becomes workable, we will certainly explore that option.
“Nonetheless, the House will provide alternative platforms for all Nigerians who desire to send in written documents that articulate their concerns, make recommendations on amendments and perhaps present other formulations for a new framework for managing infectious diseases in Nigeria.
“All the contributions we receive will be considered and aggregated to improve the proposed legislation,” he said.
While laying to rest the controversies generated since the bill was proposed on April 28, he said allegations that the proposed bill was a product of inducement by foreign interests was untrue.
He said the bill, still a proposal subject to consideration, amendment and improvement had been assailed as a sinister attempt to turn Nigerians into guinea pigs for medical research while taking away their fundamental human rights.
“Suffice it to say that none of these allegations are true.
“Unfortunately, we now live in a time when conspiracy theories have gained such currency that genuine endeavours in the public interest can quickly become misconstrued to raise the spectre of sinister intent and ominous possibility.
“This House of Representatives will never take any action that purposes to bring harm to any Nigerian here at home or abroad.
“As we have thus far shown by our conduct, the resolutions and actions we take in this 9th House of Representatives will always be in the best interests of the Nigerian people who elected us and no one else,” he said.
The speaker said that in the recent uproar, certain fundamental truths had been lost and were worth remembering.
According to him, the current framework for the prevention and management of infectious diseases is obsolete and no longer fit for purpose.
He added that the current law severely constrained the ability of the Federal Government and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to take proactive action to prevent the entry into Nigeria of Infectious diseases and the management of public health emergencies when they occur.
He said that the government was vulnerable to claims that some directives already being implemented to manage the present crisis did not have the backing of the law and, therefore, could not withstand judicial scrutiny.
Gbajabiamila said that whether Nigerians chose to accept it or not, the world had changed irretrievably as there was no ‘normal’ to return to.
He added that the present crisis had laid bare the fundamental weaknesses in the nation’s systems of law and policy and left the nation at risk of devastating outcomes on all sides.
“Our current task is first to survive and then to set about building a new world.
“Inevitably, this demands that we should be willing to consider new ideas, explore novel possibilities, rejecting those ancient shibboleths we have long adhered to without benefit.
“We may sometimes disagree with the how and the why of policy proposals. The parliament of the people is not an echo chamber.
“It is a marketplace of ideas where only those proposals that gain currency with the majority should carry the day,” he observed.
He, however, said disagreements must be grounded in a shared recognition that the present travails demand urgent interventions.
The bill, which was sponsored by Gbajabiamila, seeks to empower the NCDC and make it more proactive and not just reactive and function when there was an outbreak.
It also seeks to empower the President and the Minister of Health to exercise certain necessary powers at first instance, during any outbreak.
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.
However, some lawmakers were not comfortable with the speed at which the Speaker wanted the bill to be passed.
This and some other provisions of the bill created controversies.
