Reps to hold 2-day public hearing on infectious disease bill

.To oversight COVID-19 spendings

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has assured that transparency and accountability will be upheld in the conduct of the public hearing on the controversial Control of Infectious Disease Bill, 2020.

The speaker said the public hearing, which is expected to take place in the next few weeks, would be for two days and will be open to the submission of memoranda, and position papers from the public.

Gbajabiamila, who spoke on Monday while receiving civil society organizations during a courtesy call in his office, said the effects of the COVID- 19 disease are of paramount concern to the House.

At the meeting were the Majority Leader of the House, Rep. Hassan Ado-Doguwa, Chief Whip, Rep Muhammad Monguno, Deputy Minority Whip, Rep. Gideon Gwani and Chairman, House Committee on Defence, Rep. Babajimi Benson.

The civil society organisations were led by Clement Nwankwo, the Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre  (CISLAC); Mufuliat Fijabi, Chief Executive Officer, Women Trust Fund and Samson Itodo, Executive Director, Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and  Advancement (YIAGA).

The speaker said while the House would step up its oversight responsibility on issues and palliative programmes around COVID-19, the 9th assembly’s kegislative agenda would be re-jigged to reflect the realities of the pandemic.

He assured that the House would continue to observe its weekly sittings, add more days when necessary, the Speaker assured and continue to pass critical legislation during the COVID-19 period.

“On the Control of Infectious Disease Bill, we are aware that many of the comments it generated are genuine, some were political and some were clearly based on the misunderstanding of the bill, but we cannot ignore any and that is why we are taking it to public hearing.

“It is going to be conducted over two days and because we don’t want to endanger anyone’s life, all the COVID-19 protocols would be observed in a hall that is supposed to take 300 people, we will have about 40.

“Those who could not make it the first day would have the opportunity to be there the second day.

The public hearing would be physical because this is all about transparency and accountability.

“We don’t want to endanger the lives of Nigerians. It will be beamed live on TV and radio, but those that cannot make it to the public hearing will have the opportunity of sending their memorandum to the House.

“The bill that will be passed by the House will be the aggregate of the submissions of Nigerians,” Gbajabiamila stated.

He also said the timely passage of the first Economic Stimulus Bill was borne out of the urgency to address the economic implication of the pandemic on the country

The speaker added that “in a few weeks, we will set up a post- COVID19 response team, to look at how we react after the pandemic. The Police Act would be laid next Tuesday for consideration because to reform the police is most necessary.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Clement Nwankwo of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) had commended the speaker and the House for rising to the occasion by its many efforts to proffer solutions for the novel pandemic during, and after its outbreak. 

“The leadership of the National Assembly have been doing a great job, first to say is how the House of Representatives has shown leadership in consultations pertaining the COVID-19 era and particularly, taken a lot of positive steps to address some of the issues of concern.

“Particularly, on the fact that the speaker has sponsored a couple of bills, especially the Economy Stimulus Bill, looking at some of the raised concerns.

“We also appreciate the timeliness in the bills and hope the implementation will be as efficient and expedited as the citizens expect,” he said.