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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law six bills including the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017 and Anti-Torture Act, 2017.
Consequently, the six acts have come into effect as laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, who briefed State House Correspondents after the President signed the bills into law, explained that the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act, 2017 provides for the compulsory treatment and care of victims of gunshots and for related matters.
“Specifically, the Act stipulates that a person with a gunshot wound shall be received for immediate and adequate treatment by any hospital in Nigeria with or without initial monetary deposit. Furthermore, a person with a gunshot wound shall not be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment or torture by any person or authority, including the police and other security agencies.
“Anti-Torture Act, 2017 makes comprehensive provisions for penalizing the acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, and prescribes penalties for the commission of such acts.”
Enang added that President Buhari, also assented to the Niger Delta Development Commission (Establishment) Amendment Act, 2017.
He explained that the Act includes the gas-producing and gas processing companies in the list of agencies that should contribute to the Niger Delta Development Commission in addition to the oil companies, in a bid to increase funding of the Commission for effective discharge of its duties. “Previously, the NDDC Acts excluded the gas companies.”
