SB 95: Disability Integration Bill 2015

Bill Analysis:

SHORT TITLE

Disability Integration Bill

STATED OBJECTIVE OF THE BILL

The objective of the Bill is to ensure full integration of persons with disabilities into society and establish a National Commission for Persons with disability and vest it with the responsibility for their education, healthcare and the protection of their social, economic, civil rights.

NUMBER OF CLAUSES/PARTS

The Bill has 18 clauses including the short title.

FLAWS IN THE BILL

1. Errors: -

The Bill is inelegantly written and needs to go back to the drawing board –

• It does not state what it tends to achieve regarding the conditions of persons with disability;
• Thought the stated objectives of the Bill is to create a Commission, there is nowhere in the Bill where this Commission is specifically created. Instead, it proceeds to create a Mental Health Commission of Nigerian in Clause 3(1).
• The Bill focuses almost exclusively on mental health persons and pays no attention to the generality of persons with disability that the Bill purports to be for. Thus, other forms of disability are not in any way addressed.
• The Bill creates confusion as to whether it is a government Commission or a limited liability company, mentioning Share holders and Share capital (Clause 12).
• The membership of the Board is also exceeding unwieldy
• The funding of the Commission, given its unwieldy composition will be very high. Raising concerns as to funding available to it will actually get to the beneficiaries after servicing the expenses of its recurrent cost;

Under Clause 5 provides that the Board of the Commission shall consist of a chairman and other members; however, Clauses 6 and 7 refer to this member of the Board as “chairmen”. This either contradicts Clause 5 to the extent that more than one person will be chairman of the board or it was a typographic error.

Clause 10(a) provides as follows – “Formulate policies consist with International Human Rights obligation towards persons with mental disorder…” The underlined word “consist” is wrongly placed. It is supposed to be “consistent”

Clause 10(b) on functions provides as follows – “Operate as a Commission to save the needs of the persons with mental health…” The underlined word takes away the meaning the Clause was meant to convey. Words such as “provide” or “meet” may be more appropriate.

Clause 12 of the Bill reads – “The capital f the commission…” The letter “f” plays no role in conveying any meaning in the sentence. The appropriate word should have been “of”.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE BILL

The fact that Nigeria needs to encourage better treatment of persons with disability does not mean that a Commission needs to be established. If a Commission is needed, it should address the needs of all persons with disability, and not a fraction of them. The Bill seeks to establish a Commission to help improve the lives of persons with disabilities; however, the body of the Bill (under Clause 3) provides for the establishment of a “Mental Health Commission of Nigeria. This implies that all persons with disabilities have mental illness or that only mental illness is regarded as a disability.

GENERAL PROVISIONS OF THE BILL

1.       ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMMISSION: -

The Bill under Clause 3 seeks to establish a Mental Health Commission of Nigeria (“the Commission”) to develop guidelines to promote public standard for dealing with people with mental health

2.       STRUCTURE OF THE COMMISSION

The Bill provides that the Commission shall have a Board of Directors consisting of a chairman and members. The members shall be drawn from several Federal Ministries, such as Housing and Urban Development, Finance, and Health. Other members shall be drawn from the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and Nigeria Institute of Public Relations. Furthermore, the Bill stipulates that other members will be drawn from each State of the Federation including the FCT, two other persons that the President may appoint and other Body Corporate.

3.      APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS

Clause 6 provides that the chairman and other members shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the shareholding institution. The chairman and members of the Board shall hold office for a period of 4 years, renewable for another 4 years and no more.

4.       FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMISSION

The Bill provides that the Commission shall formulate policies consistent with international human rights obligations towards persons with mental disorders. The commission shall also provide facilities for rehabilitation at such a rate on such terms and conditions as may be determined from time to time by the Board in accordance with applicable laws. All the functions of the Commission contained from Clause 10(a) – (k) are geared towards protecting persons with mental health issues.

5.       STAFF OF THE COMMISSION

Clause 11 of the Bill provides that the President shall appoint the Director General for a term of 5 years renewable for another 5 years and no more. The Executive Director shall be appointed for a term of 4 years, renewable for another 4 years and no more.

6.       FUNDS OF THE COMMISSION

The commission shall establish and maintain a fund from which shall be defrayed all expenditure incurred by the Commission (Clause 13). The fund shall consist of monies from the Federal Government by way of grant or loan or otherwise.

A separate account shall be established for the purpose of paying all contributions of foreign donors from which disbursement shall be made (Clause 15).

7.        CAPITAL OF COMMISSION

Clause 12 of the Bill provides that the Commission shall have an authorized share capital of N550,000,000 and shall be subscribed for in the ratio of 40% to the Federal Government, 30% by the Central Bank and 30% by other Body Corporate.

CONCLUDING ISSUES

The rights of persons with disabilities cannot be understated. Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides for the Right to freedom from discrimination. This right cut across all members of the country irrespective of their ethnicity, social status, gender or circumstances of their birth. No person should be discriminated against because they have a disability of any kind, and the Bill seeks to establish that fact; however, it has already been covered under the Constitution.

Clause 3 of the Bill seeks to establish a Mental Health Commission to protect the needs of persons with mental health problems and formulate policies consistent with International Human Rights obligations. A disability can occur in persons with sound mind and capacity, rendering them physically impaired in one way or the other, and so establishing a commission just for mental health would not address the issues of persons living with disabilities.

The Bill provides under Clause 12(2) that the authorized share capital of the Commission shall be N550, 000,000, which suggests that the commission shall be run as a company with shareholders. There are no details of any Initial Public Offer (IPO) for the 30% allocated to “other Body Corporate” or whether the commission shall be run as a Public Private Partnership (PPP). The Bill goes further to state under Clause 15 that a separate account shall be designated for funds that come from foreign donors. This raises the question as to why funds need to be divided based on the source, if they are all geared towards developing and sustaining the commission.

This Bill is not in a form that requires passage, as it does not address the issues of persons with disability accordingly and appropriately. A further review is necessary before passage.

Infographic: