Coronavirus: Lagos Assembly passes law to jail lockdown offenders
- Lagos state House of Assembly has passed into law a bill that will criminalise violators of directives on coronavirus
- The bill was passed on Thursday, March 26, during a plenary in Alausa, Ikeja
- Mudashiru Obasa, the speaker of the House, said the measure was important to prevent the spread of the disease in Lagos state
Amid the scare of coronavirus pandemic in the state, the Lagos House of Assembly has passed into law a bill empowering security agencies to arrest residents who flout directives aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
Vanguard reports that the lawmakers passed the bill at their plenary on Thursday, March 26.
Legit.ng gathered that the bill, titled: "A law to combat and stop the spread of coronavirus pandemic in Lagos state and for connected purposes,'' also empowered Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to spend at least N20 billion to combat the pandemic in the state.
Speaking during the deliberation on the bill, the speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, directed the clerk of the House, Azeez Sanni, to prioritise sending a clean copy of the passed bill to the governor for his assent.
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The bill reads: “The bill empowers the governor to incur the kick-off expenditure sum of N20 billion to combat and stop the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. The governor in combating the coronavirus pandemic shall declare a state of emergency in the State to protect the people of the State from the pandemic.
“The bill calls for a trust fund named Coronavirus Pandemic Trust Fund with a board to manage this but supervised by the executive. The trust fund shall consist of funds and material donations from individuals, private and public organizations.
“As from the commencement of this law, only essential services such as food supply, pharmacy, shops, water supply, petrol filling Stations and other relevant agencies shall be in full operations unless the governor declares otherwise. All security agencies in the state including the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency shall effectively ensure that the policy directives of the Governor are implemented and enforced.
“Where there is a violation of a close-down or stay at home order, security Agencies shall have the power to arrest without warrant and may detain any person who violates the close-down or stay at home order for at least 48 hours. Where the arrested person is found guilty, the person is liable to a fine of N100,000.00 or one-month imprisonment or three months Community service.”
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that a lady identified as Precious Williams shared a heart-wrenching experience about how she is struggling to cope after testing positive for coronavirus.
Precious disclosed in a message on social media that she tested positive for the COVID-19 and she asked her friends to remember her in their prayers for a speedy recovery.
After being in the hospital for a week, she described COVID-19 as a "monster."
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Source: Legit.ng
