An Analytical Examination of Emergency Powers and Legislative Oversight During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the invocation of emergency health powers under the Quarantine Act 1926 and the National Centre for Disease Control Act, alongside presidential executive regulations that imposed sweeping restrictions on movement, assembly, and economic activity in Nigeria. The adequacy of legislative oversight of these emergency measures, the constitutional basis of the executive regulations, and the judicial responses to constitutional challenges filed during the pandemic provide a rich analytical case study for emergency powers constitutional law. This study analytically examines the legal basis, scope, and legislative oversight of COVID-19 emergency powers in Nigeria from March 2020 to December 2021. A doctrinal methodology is applied, reviewing the Quarantine Act 1926, the COVID-19 Health Protection Regulations 2020, National Assembly emergency session records, judicial decisions on COVID-19 restrictions from the Federal High Court, and comparative analysis from the United Kingdom and South Africa. The study evaluates the constitutional adequacy of the Quarantine Act as an emergency powers statute and the National Assembly's oversight role during the pandemic period. Available constitutional law literature from Nigeria identifies the anachronistic Quarantine Act as inadequate for modern pandemic governance and the National Assembly's de facto exclusion from emergency regulation-making as the most analytically significant constitutional gaps exposed by the pandemic response. The Emergency Powers Constitutionalism Framework and the Siracusa Principles on Emergency Derogations provide the normative analytical reference. Findings recommend a Public Health Emergency Act and legislative oversight reform. Keywords: emergency powers, COVID-19, Quarantine Act, legislative oversight, Nigeria.