Ebola Outbreak: Lawmakers move to amend Nigeria’s 100-year-old Quarantine Act

The Senate on Wednesday resolved to engage the presidency on the review of Nigeria’s Quarantine Act to bring it in line with modern public health legislation and the International Health Regulations.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, directed the Senate Committee on Judiciary to liaise with the executive arm of government and relevant health agencies to develop proposals for amending the law.

Mr Akpabio gave the directive during Wednesday’s plenary while lawmakers debated a motion on the need to enforce mandatory health screening at all international airports and other entry points to prevent the spread of Ebola and other epidemic-prone diseases.

The motion was sponsored by Francis Faduyile (APC, Ondo South).

Mr Akpabio said the proposed amendment should be treated as an urgent matter to strengthen the country’s response to the Ebola outbreak and prevent further spread of the disease.

“We should take the issue very seriously and we should invite the Senate Committee on Judiciary to start contact with the health authorities in view to amending this Quarantine Act of 1926. This should be immediate, we should consult with the executive arm of government and all relevant agencies.

“We should not attempt to wait for them to bring an Act to us, we should go to them to get their inputs. That is what I think we should do in order to be able to nip this in the bud. Otherwise, if it spreads, there’ll be a major problem.”

Ebola case in Nigeria

Nigeria confirmed an Ebola case on Tuesday. The patient, a woman who recently arrived in the country on an international flight from Uganda, is receiving medical care in isolation at a private hospital in Abuja.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, said 44 people had been identified as contacts of the patient and that authorities were tracking them for monitoring and possible isolation.

Senate’s resolutions

After Mr Akpabio’s remarks, the lawmakers rejected a proposal for senators to visit the entry points through which the woman travelled before being isolated in Abuja.

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Instead, the upper chamber urged the federal government to immediately release emergency funds from the Service Wide Vote to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.

The Senate also urged the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) and the Port Health Services to make health screening compulsory for all international arrivals at airports, seaports and designated land borders.

The lawmakers called for enhanced screening of passengers who had been in or transited through affected areas within the preceding 21 days, regardless of their nationality or country of departure.

They further urged the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to ensure that all entry points were adequately staffed and equipped with trained port health officers, thermal scanners, protective equipment and isolation rooms.