When the law is perverted, citizens’ free will would be snatched away from them. Nigeria has been simmering under out-of-thought decisions and laws made by sets of uninformed lawmakers. As if the legislations like the Social Media Law and Water Resources Bill are not enough, a bill to prevent Nigerian doctors from seeking better life conditions abroad has just passed second reading at the House of Representatives’ chamber.
With these sets of legislations, one would wonder if the politicians at the National Assembly ever undergo a little exercise of common reasoning. Tying down unhappy doctors to work in unfavorable situations could be detrimental to the whole medical industry, compounding the problem the legislators thought they could solve.
The bill, if successfully passed into law, would tackle the emigration of trained medical and dental practitioners. Or better still, the bill is aimed at ensuring the medical/dental practitioners pay back for the service of the country that has made them who they call themselves.
Nigeria currently has only 24,000 licensed medical doctors available in the country, less than 10 percent of the number needed to meet a World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation.
A large number of Nigerian doctors emigrated to seek greener pastures in developed countries. It is estimated that at least 2,000 medical doctors leave Nigeria yearly and no fewer than 5,407 Nigerian trained doctors are currently working with the British National Health Service in the United Kingdom.
The mammoth level of emigration is not unconnected to poor remuneration, lack of job satisfaction and the security threat bedeviling the nation.
Though the action of the House is unsurprising. This is not the first time the National Assembly_in a bid of addressing a problem_ would cause more headache to the situation it intends to solve. One among many of the legislations is the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Code, which empowered the body to sanction media platforms in Nigeria over violation of code. Relying on the provisions of the code, NBC arbitrarily imposed a N5m fine on Channels Television over a recent interview with the Labour Party vice-presidential candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed.
NBC’ action contravenes the provisions of section 22, 36 and 39 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which all guaranteed freedom of expression and safeguard of press freedom.
The proposed bill is nothing but a plan to enslave doctors for years; a clear betrap to the right to freedom of movement and liberty of the doctors guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights standards.
Section 41(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guaranteed every citizen’s right to move freely, enter and leave Nigeria without undue interference.
Also, section 42(1) of the Constitution guarantees the right to work and to engage in any lawful profession or business of one’s choice without any discrimination or undue interference from the government.
The proposed bill may temper with the career opportunities of medical and dental graduates as their rights to freedom of movement would be affected. Also, international human rights standards such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights_ which recognizes the right to work and to free choice of employment, prohibits discrimination in employment based on factors such as race, gender, or national origin_ would be trapped.
You cannot create bad conditions to make people stay, rather you build good conditions to entice them. The National Assembly should instead address the poor remuneration system of the doctors, to prevent them from eyeing highly paid jobs abroad. The security architecture should also be overhauled to ensure safety of the doctors.
Shereefdeen Ahmad