CSOS Threaten Nationwide Protest

ACOALITION of Civil Society Organisations ( CSOS) has threatened to mobilise a nationwide protest to express their disapproval of the Infectious Disease Bill currently being debated at the National Assembly, if the bill is not dropped, noting that passage of such anti- people bill should be discouraged. The CSOS, made up of Equity International Initiative ( EII), Civil Liberty Organisation ( CLO), and Bege Foundation ( BF), among others, jointly addressed a press conference yesterday, in Jos, Plateau State, describing the position of the House of Representatives as being autocratic over the bill. CLO Director North Central, Comrade Steve Aluko, expressed worry that at a time most parts of the nation is on lockdown and movement is restricted as a result of COVID- 19 pandemic, the National Assembly was in a hurry to organise public hearing and pass the bill without giving room for robust public participation.

He said, “If we don’t stop it, this may just be a landmark of precedence to further legislative impunity in the nearest future. That is why we must call on all Nigerians across all shades of opinion, religions and tribes to rise up. “Whatever is going on in the National Assembly today cannot be said to guarantee fair hearing on the basis of good representation of Nigerians’ opinion. The question is why the rush; why is the National Assembly in a rush to present a bill when the pandemic is still on if there is no sinister motive? There is a provision in the bill that talks about compulsion; are we in another military era when totalitarian is the order of the day? Where are the fundamental rights of Nigerians as enshrined in the constitution, which should be the bedrock of governance at all levels?...”