Details of five new bills Buhari signed into law

President Muhammadu recently assented to five bills, after months of legislative action.

The bills include the Extradition (Amendment) Act 2018, Federal Capital Territory Appropriation Act, 2018 and Nigerian Centre For Disease Control And Prevention (Establishment) Act, 2018.

Others are the National Environmental Standard and Regulations Enforcement Agency (Establishment) (Amendment) Act 2018, and the Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geo-sciences, Jos, (Establishment) Act 2018.

This was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang at the State House on Monday.

The Extradition (Amendment) Act 2018 was first presented at the House of Representatives on October 31, 2017.

It was sponsored by Ahwinahwi Solomon (PDP, Delta) and was read for the second time on November 21, 2017. It was thereafter referred to the House Committee on Justice. It was read for the third time in May before it was passed.

The bill vested jurisdiction on extradition proceedings now on the Federal High Court and no more the magistrates court or magistrates.

Mr Enang had told journalists that the amendment further introduced a new section 15(2) “preventing double jeopardy as protected by Section 36(9) of the Constitution.

“The new section prevents a person (who) surrendered to Nigeria in accordance with extraction treaty, obligation from being arrested, detained, extradited or otherwise dealt with in Nigeria or any other country within the Commonwealth or any other country having same extraditing agreement with Nigeria, if the proceedings relate to an offence for which he has been previously convicted or acquitted in the requesting country for which extradition is sought by the Nigerian authorities,” he said.

The Federal Capital Territory Appropriation Act was submitted by the president to the National Assembly and allows aggregate capital and recurrent expenditure of N371,532,518,887 up to the financial year ending December 31.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Act is also an executive bill aimed at promoting, coordinating and facilitating the prevention, detection and control of communicable diseases and other public health emergencies in Nigeria.

Submitted by the president on October 17, 2017 to the National Assembly, it is to develop, maintain and coordinate surveillance systems, to collect, analyse and interpret data on diseases of public health importance so as to detect public health threats, guide health intervention and set public health priorities.

The bill is also expected to lead the response to disease outbreaks, public health emergencies and disasters in order to minimise the impact on health; develop and maintain a network of reference and specialised laboratories for pathogen detection, disease surveillance and outbreak response.

Other functions of the bill include developing and maintaining guidelines and processes for specimen collection and transportation to reference laboratories including the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard reference laboratories in Nigeria.

It also provides information to the public through multiple platforms on diseases and public health events and coordinates the control of national and trans-border responses to mass public health emergencies, such as mass casualties, floods, nuclear, biological and chemical terrorism, disease outbreaks and heavy metals poisoning, among others.

The National Environmental Standard and Regulations Enforcement Agency (Establishment) (Amendment) Act 2018, was an amendment to the 2007 Act.

It was transmitted from the House of Representatives and read for the third time at the Senate on July 10.

The bill defines matters of appointment to the council, empowers the agency or appropriate person to cause immediate abatement of imminent environmental pollution while appropriate warrant or court order is sought to ensure public safety, among others.

The Nigerian Institute Of Mining and Geo-sciences, Jos (Establishment) Act emanated from the House of Representatives and was sponsored by Suleiman Kwande.

The bill was finally passed on the floor of the Senate on July 10.

The bill establishes the institute to provide courses of instruction, training and research in geo-sciences and mining and produce technicians and such skilled personnel normally required for the mining and related industries.

It also provides for both the public and private sectors alike, laboratory services for rock and mineral identification, sampling and mineral beneficiation, mineral and metallurgical analysis.

The institute is also expected to conduct research in mining, quarrying and related industries as well as provide skilled training for the artisanal and small scale mining operators; among others.

(Premium Times News Nigeria)