NCDC Bill: Speaker of Nigeria House of Reps defend why dem wan reform di Infectious Disease Bill
Di Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila don chook mouth for di controversy wey dey go upandan for di proposed control of di Infectious Disease Bill wey dey for floor of di house.
Addressing di matter on Tuesday for plenary session, Honorable Gbajabiamila tok say di tori wey bin dey go upandan say di Bill na attempt for di Nigerian goment to turn Nigerians into Guinea pigs for foreign experiments no dey true. Im tok say di bill na for public interest say di House no go make any move wey go harm any Nigerian both home and abroad. "Di action wey we take for di floor of dis 9th House of Representative go always dey in the interest of di pipo wey elect us." he add am. Oga Gbajabiamila further explain say di current framework wey we dey use to tackle di prevention and management of infectious diseases don dey old and e no longer dey fit for di purpose. He tok say di current law no dey allow goment and di Nigeria Centre For Disease Control NCDC to act fast to prevent how Infectious disease take dey enter di kontri and e dey hinder somethings on di management of public health emergencies wen e happun. "I no follow agree say dis no be di ideal time for us to amend di framework of di Infectious Disease and public health framework." Im tok. "Di weakness of di present system don already dey show for goment inability to hold to account pipo wey no follow NCDC guidelines and dem dey allow di spread of Coronavirus for Nigeria." "We get cases of pipo wey don run comot from isolation Centre, some even sabi coronavirus status and yet dem dey travel from one state to di other with public transport." For reason why di Members of di House dey chook eye to reform di bill, Oga Femi say di number of pipo wey dey currently infected by di virus continue to dey rise with di number of pipo wey dey die from am. He mention say time-line no dey for wen di disease go pass and nobody fit predict wen di next public health crisis go happun and we no fit tie our own hands in di hands against dis disease. "Whether we chooseto accept am or not, di world wey we dey live don change and we no fit stop am. We no get any 'normal' to return to as dis present crisis don show di weakness of our systems of law and policy wey dey make our ko tri suffer." "Wetun we need do now na to survive and start to dey build new world, new ideas and reject di old things wey we dey used to and e no get any benefit." Di Speaker mention say di House go put di Control of Infectious Diseases Bill forward for public hearing where stakeholder go shook mouth and make improvements before di Committee go review am or debate on wetin go be di final legislation. Di Bill wey seek to amend some things on di way Nigeria dey handle Pandemic don pass first reading for di house of representatives.