Constitutional and Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has said that there is no need enacting new laws under the guise of fighting the Coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.
According to him, the socio-economic rights of the Nigerian people are already clearly spelt out in Chapter Two of the Nigerian Constitution, which include Child’s Right Act, NDDC Act, Pension Act, Universal Basic Education Act, NHIS Act, right to fight corruption, and supervised equitable share of the Nigerian Commonwealth, among others.
Falana said this just as he vowed to ensure justice for families of 30 innocent Nigerians that were allegedly killed by security operatives during the COVID-19 lockdown.
He spoke during the 9th Lagos State University Virtual Public Lecture, held on Tuesday, titled, “Law and Society in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
On the economic rights of citizens, the human rights activist averred that the poor were already marginalised and their economic rights usurped even with the revised budget, owing to the pandemic.
“At a time like this, the government must support the people, just like elsewhere, where the governments paid the very poor in the society. Also, the cancellation of electricity bill of the citizens, soft loans and other palliatives to cushion the effect of the pandemic should be the priority of government,” Falana suggested.
He decried the lawlessness of security operatives, who during the lockdown killed 30 innocent Nigerians, under the guise of enforcing the lockdown rules.
“We are working with other civil liberty organisations and in touch with the families of the victims. We will ensure they get justice and the authority compensates them. They were killed for the same offence the elites were guilty of and even broke the law. Some people had burials during the period, exceeding the stipulated number of attendees,” he added.
On the health sector, the lawyer said Nigeria had not been able to curtail the Coronavirus pandemic because of what he described as the failed public healthcare system in the country.
The pandemic, according to him, has exposed Nigerian leaders as bereft of creativity.
Falana said, based on available records, Nigeria had 72,000 registered medical practitioners, but, bemoaned a situation where half of them were out of the country in the pursuit of greener pastures.
He said this had contributed to the failure of the healthcare system and called on the authorities to reverse the anomaly by overhauling the sector.
On the reopening of schools, he urged government to put every structure on ground that would ensure the safety of the students, staff and others.
He called on ASUU and other stakeholders to put pressure on the government to act right.
