REPOSITIONING PUBLIC HEALTH AND SANITATION LAWS FOR CHALLENGES OF MODERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Public health and environmental sanitation are crucial to the well being of every nation and her people. They are the determinant factors of a healthy nation. In order to achieve public health, there have to be good and enforceable public health laws in place ably supported by environmental sanitation laws. These public health laws in Nigeria are colonial legacy and these laws which predate Nigeria independence still remain the way they had been since inception on the face of a rapidly growing and modernizing nation. The paper observes that Nigeria has outgrown its public health laws and left them behind. This has resulted in exposure of the nation to health hazards and filthy and dirty environment. The paper identifies various sections of the Public Health Laws and the environmental sanitation laws that are obsolete and need to be brought in line with the reality of contemporary Nigeria society. The paper then calls for amendment of identified provisions of the laws with a view to properly positioning them to address the challenges of modern Nigeria environment.