Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has denied the involvement of American billionaire, Bill Gates, in the formulation of Vaccination Bill before the House of Representatives.
Last week, the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) had alleged that Mr. Gates had offered the House of Representatives $10 million for the passage of Vaccination Bill.
But, Hon. Gbajabiamila, while speaking through his Special Assistant on Research and Public Policy, Dubem Okadigbo Moghalu, in a zoom Conference meeting organised by Elombah Communications/ Njenje Media Ltd ,said the lawmakers had not consulted any other individual in the formulation of the bill.
According to him, “I speak for my boss, bill gates have no involvement in this particular legislation.
“Section 30 of the proposed bill deal with Vaccination for international travel, again there is this proposed bill that is alien, Section 30 of subsection 1, some of us have already obtained yellow card this thing already exists which we adhere to, you can’t enter UK or US if you have not been vaccinated against some certain diseases.
“This is not new in Nigeria. Immunisation is made compulsorily for children. Individual rights must succumb to the public concern. So, we have not done anything outside the existing law.
“This document still has a long way to go before it will be signed by the President. We will still do clause-by-clause consideration of the bill.”
The Panelist at the meeting were a former INEC chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu, a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Akanni Dolapo, Daniel H. Bwala (UK), Special Adviser on Legal and Constitutional Matters to Deputy Denate President/Head of the Legal Unit, and Prof. Joseph Igietseme, Doctor of Immunology & Microbiology from Georgetown, Chief of Molecular Pathogenesis Laboratory at the National Center for Infectious Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The Zoom Conference was titled ‘COVID-19 and the proposed Vaccination Bill: Implications for Nigeria’.
