![]() ![]() It may appear that the judiciary plays no role in this process. Thus, the Nigerian Constitution only provides for legislative oversight of the process of state of emergency. If the legislative houses fail to pass a resolution approving the declaration, then such a declaration shall immediately cease to have effect (section 305(6)). In this case, both legislative houses (the Senate and House of Representatives) must, immediately after a declaration, consider the situation and decide whether or not to ratify (section 305(2)). With regard to Nigeria, the Constitution provides an ex post control on emergency powers in that the legislature must approve any declaration by the President. The constitution provides a closed list which means it does not admit of circumstances that are not listed.īecause of the high possibility of abuse, emergency powers are usually subject to some constitutional checks. Finally, a state of emergency can be declared where the President receives a request from a state governor which is sanctioned by a majority in the House of Assembly. According to section 305 of the Nigerian Constitution, the President can proclaim a state of emergency by an instrument published in the Official Gazette of the Government under any of the following circumstances: the federation is at war, or there is an imminent danger of invasion or involvement in a state of war there is a breakdown of public order or public safety in part or the whole of the country there is a situation of imminent danger, public danger or disaster or natural calamity. Nigeria belongs to the category of nations with a constitutional framework for emergency powers based on the models posited by Ferojohn and Pasquino in their seminal work. Constitutional and Legal Framework for State of Emergencies The use of emergency powers in Nigeria in the fight against COVID-19 is not only peculiar but problematic for a number of reasons. Like many other countries across the world, Nigeria has called upon emergency powers to deal with COVID-19 without, however, having declared a state of emergency. However, in spite of these measures, the virus continued to spread steadily in the country with a total 5,621confirmed cases and 176 deaths as of. These measures were to be coordinated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) which is the government agency responsible for leading “the prevention, detection, investigation, monitoring and control of communicable diseases.” Other measures which were put in place to immediately contain the spread of the virus included the closure of Nigeria borders. Before the confirmation, the Nigerian government, through the FMoH, had started to put in place measures aimed at controlling and containing the outbreak. ![]() It was also the first reported case in Africa. This was a case of an Italian who works in Nigeria and who had recently returned from Milan. On 27 February 2020, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) reported the first confirmed case in Lagos State of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). ![]()
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