ABUJA – The general outcry of a groundswell of Nigerians, seems to be making little impact at the National Assembly, as the Senate, toed the line of the House of Representatives, to introduce its own version of the bill compelling citizens to receive vaccines by force.
Entitled: “National Health Emergency Bill” sponsored by the Chairman Senate Committee on Communicable Diseases and Primary Healthcare, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu North), the bill scaled first reading on Tuesday.
The bill was also making for the next stage like a similar one did last week, before it was halted by former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu (PDP Enugu West), who denounced the speed at which it was racing without members getting the draft copies
“I rely on Order 41 of the Senate Standing Rule. As a senator, I am entitled to know the details of this Bill.
“We want to have copies of the gazetted copies. There is controversy over the same Bill in the House of Representatives.
“We don’t want to have the same issue here. We need to be guided to avoid any backlash. I need to read it and prepare ahead of time,” he told the members.
Swayed by his submission, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, directed the Clerk of the Senate, Nelson Ayewoh, to ensure the distribution of copies of the bill to all the senators, deferring the second reading of the Bill till next week to enable Senators study its content.
His words: “The copies are ready and everybody will get a copy. We are not taking the second reading immediately. That will be done next week. So, members will have the time to read the contents of the Bill.”
The House of Representatives version introduced by Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, under the banner “Control of Infection Diseases Bill 2020,” had raised a lot of dust within the polity, with Nigerians and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the main opposition to the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in power, lashing out at the lawmakers, especially after it passed both first and reading on the same day.