By LUMINOUS JANNAMIKE, Abuja

The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN has urged the House of Representatives to discard the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill (2020), warning that it will trigger anarchy, disorder, and insecurity if passed into law.

The apex Christian body said this after appearing at a public hearing on the proposed legislation organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Health Care Services in Abuja on Thursday.

Briefing journalists, CAN’s General Secretary, Barr. Joseph Daramola, described the Bill as unfriendly and anti-people; highlighting its potential to restrict fundamental rights and freedoms, particularly through ‘forced vaccination’ and quarantining of persons at the whims of the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC.

He said, “We have independently studied the Bill and observed that if passed for implementation; it shall trigger anarchy, disorder, and insecurity.

“It is our position that this Bill cannot and should not stand as it is! We appeal that the National Assembly discards it completely.

“Our attempt at reworking the provisions of the Bill indicates that it is irredeemable! It requires painstaking multiple stakeholders’ consultation if we must pass any meaningful law in this regard.

“From our perspective, the promulgation of appropriate regulations to strengthen the existing laws will be more meaningful than making entirely new law.

“We, therefore, implore NASS to avoid wasted efforts, save Nigeria the socio-political and religious tensions of the litigations and overburdening of the law courts by citizens to seek redress.”

Daramola maintained that Christians were comfortable taking vaccines, however, it should be a matter of choice and not forced on citizens.

“Nigerian Christians and vaccination are not alien to each other. People should be left to make their own choice if they are properly educated. We are for education and public enlightenment,” the CAN scribe stressed.

Also speaking, CAN’s National Director of Legal and Public Affairs, Mrs. Comfort Chigbue, stressed that the Infectious Diseases Bill not only violates Nigeria’s national interest and security but also seeks to usurp the powers of all other public healthcare institutions in favor of the Director-General of NCDC, in a manner that will create disharmony and dysfunctionality in the system.

“The Director-General NCDC will be made a ‘Frankenstein monster’ with omnibus powers, because he will be empowered to restrict fundamental rights and freedoms at will, in abuse of constitutionally established institutions and processes, without any form of accountability.

“It is the considered opinion of CAN, as a conglomerate of patriotic citizens, that the Bill does not meet the aspirations for the common good of the citizenry,” she said. (Text, excluding headline, courtesy Vanguard)

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