Anti – Doping Bill passes second reading in senate

By Iyojo Ameh

The Senate has passed for second reading , anti – doping bill , forwarded to it for consideration by President Bola Tinubu last week .

Passage of the bill for second reading by the Senate , followed lead debate made by its Leader , Senator Micheal Opeyemi Bamidele and contributions made by other senators on necessity of the proposed law .

Senator Bamidele in his lead debate on the general principles of the bill, said it seeks for an Act to domesticate and Enforce in Nigeria , the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organisation ( UNESCO) Convention against Doping in Sports and to implement Nigeria’s Obligation to the World Anti – Doping Code, International Standards and for Related Matters .

According to him , the bill in a nutshell, seeks to domesticate the UNESCO Convention against Doping in Sports to , among other things, establish the National Anti – Doping Centre for the purpose of combating doping in sports in compliance with the World Anti – Doping Code and UNESCO Convention .

Other objectives of the bill he added , ” are to protect the rights of athletes to participate in doping free sporting activities , promote fair and equal treatment of all athletes and their health .

” Co – ordinate and harmonize effective sports anti – doping programme at the national and international levels , with regard to detection , deterrence and prevention of doping .

” Provide measures for the prevention and control of doping in sports “,

After exhaustive debate on the motion by other Senators ,the President of the Senate , Godswill Akpabio , mandated the committee on Sports to make further legislative inputs on it and report back in two weeks .