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Gbajabiamila sinks deeper over unpopular disease control bill as Health Minister, NCDC DG oppose legislation

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4 years ago

June 11, 2020

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The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, has continued to sink deeper into infamy over the controversial infectious disease control bill being opposed and rejected by notable stakeholders of goodwill in Nigeria but which the Speaker sponsoring the bill insists on its passage despite the obvious inadequacies. At the Thursday public hearing on the bill in Abuja, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Enahire, opposed the legislation of the bill into law by the National Assembly. The Minister questioned the irrational superior powers the bill prescribes for the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), who is under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.

The Minister remarked that the lawmakers did not consult the Ministry of Health while drafting the bill. It is the ministry that will implement whatever law comes out of the bill yet it was sidelined in the drafting of the bill.

The Minister also questioned the provisions that make the NCDC DG more powerful than his supervisor who is the Minister of Health. It was obvious that the tyranny of the bill was not hidden while the ulterior motive remains questionable since the bill betrays national interest.

The NCDC DG, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, aligned with the Health Minister in rejecting the bill. The DG also observed that there was no consultation with the NCDC while drafting the bill. He further did not see the rational in being more powerful than the Minister who supervises him. More so, most of the powers were considered arbitrary.

The NCDC DG was of the view that better work would have been done in drafting the bill if the National Assembly had held consultation with the Health Ministry and the NCDC at the early stage.

The NCDC DG and the Health Minister rejected the idea of such legislation being imposed on them for implementation.

Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, has said the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill gives him excessive powers.

Sources who witnessed the Day2 of the secret-public hearing, disclosed that Ihekweazu re-echoed the observations of other health stakeholders that the Bill does not meet human rights stipulations enshrined in the Constitution.

Also, the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) and Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire, differed on Thursday on the Bill.
The minister and the council expressed their observations during the concluding part of the public hearing on the Bill at the National Assembly.

The two-day hearing on the contentious Bill was held by the Joint Committees of Justice, Health Services and Health Institutions.
While NIREC supported the legislation, saying there are gaps in the laws on infectious diseases in the country, Ehanire noted that another law was unnecessary.
The minister said he would prefer the Bill to be subsumed in the NCDC Amendment Act and the Quarantine Amendment Act.