Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has said it is making moves to retool its legislative agenda to reflect the current socio-economic realities following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, stated this when he received some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) yesterday in Abuja.
The House, last year, roled out a 15-point agenda to guide legislations on key sectors of the economy.
However, Gbajabiamila noted that when the legislative agenda for the ninth House was conceptualised, the parliament never envisaged the outbreak of COVID -19 pandemic and the attendant disruptions.
“Right now, we are in the process of reworking our legislative agenda. Last year, no one saw this (COVID-19)coming. So, our legislative agenda presumed that it was going to be business as usual. But we have to rework it, in keeping with the time we have found ourselves,” Gbajabiamila said.
While speaking on the contentious Control of Infectious Diseases Bill, Gbajabiamila said the House would hold a two -day public hearing, at a yet to be determined date, where members of the public and interest group will be able to make their inputs into the proposed legislation. “On the Control of Infectious Disease Bill, we are aware that many of the comments it generated are genuine, some were political and some were clearly based on the misunderstanding of the bill but we can not ignore any and that is why we are taking it to public hearing.