The year 2020 was quite a turbulent period in the national
assembly.
While some Nigerians are of the opinion that the ninth
national assembly is a “rubber stamp” of the executive and has failed to live
up to expectations, other citizens think otherwise.
Among those who have praised the current legislature is
President Muhammadu Buhari. In July, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman,
quoted the president as saying he has “his utmost respect for the national
assembly”.
The assembly considered some bills in 2020 which kept tongues wagging.
Here are some of these bills.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
BILL
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic that was first recorded
in the country in February, federal lawmakers initiated a bill that will help
curb the spread of infectious diseases.
The bill seeks to repeal the quarantine act of 1926 and
provide new regulations that will enable Nigeria to manage situations like the
coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged the world.
So far, the world has recorded 79,124,958 cases of COVID-19.
But the provisions of the bill did not sit well with some
Nigerians.
The bill provides for compulsory vaccination, which some
claimed to be a ploy to implant trackable microchips devised by Bill Gates,
Microsoft co-founder. There is no evidence to back up this claim.
Also the proposed legislation provides for the arbitrary
arrest of any suspect who allegedly breached the law. The bill is yet to be
passed by the national assembly.
WATER RESOURCES BILL
The bill seeking to regulate water resources in the country
turned out to be quite controversial.
It was first introduced in parliament by the executive
during the eighth national assembly. It was reintroduced in parliament by the
Buhari administration in 2020.
While the bill was passed by the house of representatives,
it was rejected by the senate. Godswill Akpabio, minority leader at the time,
led opposition lawmakers to kick against the bill.
Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, said the bill was designed to
give “absolute control” of the country’s water resources to the federal
government. The bill is still pending at the assembly.
CAMA
The Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 generated a
lot of controversy after it was passed by the national assembly and signed into
law by the president in August.
Under the law, religious bodies and charity organisations
will be regulated by the registrar-general of Corporate Affairs Commission
(CAC) and a supervising minister.
However, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) rejected
its application on the church.
It said if the federal government is bent on imposing a law
on the church, then it has declared war on Christianity.
“The satanic section of the controversial and ungodly law is
Section 839 (1) &(2) which empowers the Commission to suspend trustees of
an association (in this case, the church) and appoint interim managers to
manage the affairs of the association for some given reasons,” it said in a
statement in August.
“The Church cannot be controlled by the government because
of its spiritual responsibilities and obligations.
“This is why we are calling on the federal government to
stop the implementation of the obnoxious and ungodly law until the religious
institutions are exempted from it.”
BAN ON GENERATORS
A bill seeking to ban power generating sets stirred the
hornet’s nest in March.
A lot of Nigerians depend on generators for electricity
generation in their homes and businesses owing to irregular power supply.
Bima Enagi, senator representing Niger south, introduced the
bill.
A copy of the bill states that anybody who imports into or
sells generators in Nigeria risks at least 10 years in prison.
The proposed law wants all citizens to “stop the use of
electricity generating sets which run on diesel/petrol/kerosene of all
capacities with immediate effect in the country”.
The bill, however, exempts power generating sets used for
“essential services”.
It defined essential services to include medical purposes
(hospitals and nursing homes and healthcare facilities), airports and railway
stations/ services.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
BILL
In July, the senate passed a bill seeking to prohibit sexual
harassment in tertiary institutions.
The bill was reintroduced in the senate in 2019 following a
spike in cases of sexual harassment in universities.
Clause 7 of the proposed law became controversial at the
senate.
Ovie Omo-Agege, deputy senate president and sponsor of the
bill, said female students have been classified as minors and their consent is
not a defence if court proceedings are instituted against a lecturer.
Ibrahim Yahaya, senate leader, and Enyinnaya Abaribe,
minority leader, kicked against the provision.
Yahaya argued that having lectured for more than 10 years,
some students would use the provision to “set up their lecturers”.
But the clause was retained after it was voted on
culled: TheCable
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