• Advertise
  • Contact
GFH News
Advertisement
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • Others
    • Security
    • Health
    • Metro/General News
    • Crime
    • Law/Judiciary
    • Entertainment
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • Others
    • Security
    • Health
    • Metro/General News
    • Crime
    • Law/Judiciary
    • Entertainment
  • Contact
No Result
View All Result
GFH News
No Result
View All Result
Home Law/Judiciary

Disease Bill: CISLAC, 39 others call for Public Hearing

gfhnews.com by gfhnews.com
May 5, 2020
in Law/Judiciary, Politics
0
0
SHARES
1
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and 39 other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) have called for a Public Hearing on the proposed Control of Infectious Disease Bill by the National Assembly.

Mr Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director of CISLAC, made the call in a statement co-signed by the 39 groups on Tuesday in Abuja.

Rafsanjani said that the civil society community was alarmed by the House of Representatives’ attempt to give accelerated passage to a critical legislation without consultation and inputs from relevant stakeholders and the public.

According to him, the bill has passed first and second reading at plenary under controversial circumstances and was slated for its third reading before it was resisted by some vigilant members of the House.

“We understand that the House is resolute to pass the bill and it has fixed Tuesday, May 5, for presentation of the report of the Committee of the Whole and clause by clause voting on the bill without public hearing or consultation with relevant stakeholders.

“This runs contrary to the principles of effective and inclusive lawmaking and also threatens democratic participation, human rights and abuse of power,” he said.

Rafsanjani said the group was worried that the bill vested overbearing discretionary powers on Director-General of Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC), while making no provision for reviewing and controlling the exercise of such powers.

He said that the bill empowers the NCDC to restrict fundamental rights and freedoms at will, and abuse constitutionally established institutions and processes without any form of accountability.

“For instance, Section 10 (3) gives the Director-General express powers to use force to enter any premises without warrant; Section 19 confers the director-general with powers to prohibit or restrict meetings, gatherings and public entertainments.

“Section 15(3e) also gives powers to the director-general to authorise the destruction and disposal of any structure, goods, water supply, drainage and section 47(1) confers discretionary powers to order any person to undergo vaccination or other prophylaxis.

“All these powers can be abused for political and economic reasons if not properly checked,” he said.

Rafsanjani said section 71 of the bill which absolves certain authorised persons of any liability when acting in good faith and with reasonable care is  ambiguous and subject to misuse, manipulation, and misinterpretation for personal gain.

He said that while the threat of infectious diseases might be apparent, measures deployed for their prevention must be within the ambits of the law and must protect citizens from willful abuse of rights.

He said it was important to note that the legislative and policy measures currently being implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were inadequate to respond to and manage the challenge of infectious diseases with grave implications on the country.

He however, said that any intervention seeking to provide a comprehensive legal and policy framework that would ensure the effective management of circumstances involving infectious diseases would be a positive development.

“Policies on streamlining of public health response and preparedness; involvement of all tiers of government; and transparency in the management of infectious diseases bill would be a positive development.

“However, the 1999 Constitution as amended, validating laws that may restrict the exercise of certain human rights requires that such laws must be reasonably justifiable in a democratic society and also, must be subjected to judicial review.

“But this bill in its proposed form, fails to meet this standard, as it is not reasonably justifiable in a democratic society,” he said.

He said that the bill violates key principles of simple, clear and unambiguous legislative drafting, leaving significant amount of discretion on the implementing authorities and limiting the rights of citizens and relevant institutions.

Previous Post

Falana advocates online filing of court processes in ECOWAS Court

Next Post

More on Best Free Porn Sites

gfhnews.com

gfhnews.com

Next Post

More on Best Free Porn Sites

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected test

  • 79 Followers
  • 22.9k Followers
  • 99 Subscribers
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Creative Industry Group honours Ovularia of ‘New Masquerade’

Creative Industry Group honours Ovularia of ‘New Masquerade’

December 6, 2020
Organic foods consumption will boost immunity, cure COVID-19 symptoms – Expert

Organic foods consumption will boost immunity, cure COVID-19 symptoms – Expert

January 22, 2021
Arrest me with proof that I plan instigating violence in Ebonyi — Egwu

Arrest me with proof that I plan instigating violence in Ebonyi — Egwu

November 28, 2020
Witness reveals roles played by Lt.-Col. Bello, Brig.-Gen. Omata at Lekki Tollgate shootings

Ilorin popular Prophet bags 4-yr jail term for dealing in human parts

December 14, 2020

My career at a crossroads – Aubameyang

2

Lady, 28, dumps my 65year-old brother at LUTH after stealing his millions – Sister

2

Court orders final forfeiture of N426.7m belonging to rtd. Army General

1

Mapoly 2007 Mass Comm graduates provide stimulus packages for colleagues

1
Police operatives rescue two persons from bandits in Kaduna

Police arrest 2 suspects over fake bank alert in A’Ibom

January 27, 2021
Anti-labour practices: PENGASSAN issues 7 days ultimatum to Agip oil

Anti-labour practices: PENGASSAN issues 7 days ultimatum to Agip oil

January 27, 2021
Traveller kidnapped in Ekiti regains freedom in Kwara without ransom- Amotekun Commander

With 200 additional Amotekun operatives, Oyo State set to rid Ibarapa, Oke Ogun of kidnapping, banditry

January 27, 2021
Unveiling the new Chief of Army Staff

Unveiling the new Chief of Army Staff

January 27, 2021

Recent News

Police operatives rescue two persons from bandits in Kaduna

Police arrest 2 suspects over fake bank alert in A’Ibom

January 27, 2021
Anti-labour practices: PENGASSAN issues 7 days ultimatum to Agip oil

Anti-labour practices: PENGASSAN issues 7 days ultimatum to Agip oil

January 27, 2021
Traveller kidnapped in Ekiti regains freedom in Kwara without ransom- Amotekun Commander

With 200 additional Amotekun operatives, Oyo State set to rid Ibarapa, Oke Ogun of kidnapping, banditry

January 27, 2021
Unveiling the new Chief of Army Staff

Unveiling the new Chief of Army Staff

January 27, 2021

GFH News is a Nigeria based online news platform that gives news on the go. Our team gather news from different sectors, locally and internationally, with fact checks.
Get the news as it breaks.

Browse by Category

  • Agriculture
  • Banking
  • Business
  • Crime
  • Economy
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • FACT CHECK
  • Feature
  • Foreign
  • Health
  • Labour
  • Law/Judiciary
  • Metro/General News
  • Oil&gas
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Security
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Tourism
  • Uncategorized
  • work

Recent News

Police operatives rescue two persons from bandits in Kaduna

Police arrest 2 suspects over fake bank alert in A’Ibom

January 27, 2021
Anti-labour practices: PENGASSAN issues 7 days ultimatum to Agip oil

Anti-labour practices: PENGASSAN issues 7 days ultimatum to Agip oil

January 27, 2021
  • Advertise
  • Contact

© 2020 GFH News

No Result
View All Result

© 2020 GFH News