Stakeholders in the health sector have urged the National Assembly to fast-track the process of passing the health bills into law to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to respond to public health emergencies.
The National Assembly is currently collaborating with relevant stakeholders to push a series of public health bills aimed at enhancing the country’s response to public health emergencies. These bills include the ‘Public Health Emergency Bill’, which seeks to provide a comprehensive legal framework for managing public health emergencies, and the amendment of the ‘National Health Act’, targeted at bridging gaps in extant legislation that hinder effective response to public health emergencies.
In addition, the ‘Port Health Authority Bill’ is aimed at establishing and strengthening the port health authority, responsible for health security at the country’s borders.
Public health emergencies can happen at any time with severe consequences for individuals, communities and nations. In the last decade, Nigeria has battled various infectious diseases and health emergencies such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic which have had devastating impact in the country, and revealed more than ever, the need to strengthen Nigeria’s health system to be more resilient to withstand any shock.
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To this end, stakeholders in the public health sector highlighted the urgent need for legal framework to guide the response to public health emergencies, and strengthen preparedness.
This issue was brought to the fore at a media roundtable in Abuja with legislators organised by the Nigeria Health Watch in partnership with the Global Health Advocacy Incubator with the theme, “strengthening health security in Nigeria through public health legislation”.
If signed into law, the bills would basically establish a legal and administrative framework for handling outbreak of infectious and contagious diseases that portend a significant threat to public health safety within Nigeria or are likely to be transmitted into Nigeria or outside Nigerian borders.
Stakeholders want the president to grant assent to the bills before he leaves office, especially the public health emergency bill which has been passed by the House of Representatives and Senate.
Ibrahim Oloriegbe, chairman, Senate committee on health, explained that if the president doesn’t grant assent, “it would be very difficult, we would begin to talk of override. Override is cumbersome and political. When you want to override, you have to go through all the processes again. It means not only the National Assembly, it will be sent back to the state for them to vote, and there is no time. We hope the assent would not be withheld.
Oloriegbe said the stage left is the harmonisation of which the harmonisation committee is currently working on.
He, however, expressed optimism that Buhari will grant assent, particularly to the public health emergency bill before he leaves office.
“I am chairing a committee in the Senate and plan to call a joint meeting to consider and adopt a version that we will jointly present. We hope by next week, we will present it for the president to sign,” Oloriegbe added.
