Overview
In March 2019, Akwa Ibom state’s government expressed an intention to enact a law to prosecute people who had wilfully infected or transmitted HIV. The announcement followed the release of HIV prevalence data showing the state’s HIV prevalence far exceeded the national average. It also followed a government-acknowledged decrease in spending on HIV prevention efforts.
We are not aware of this law was ever adopted. However, in September 2024 the state House of Assembly passed an anti-stigma law, aimed at reducing discrimination against people living with HIV. During the public hearing for the bill, the Nigeria-based CSO, Lawyers Alert, criticised the bill for including a criminalising provision under section 37. This provision provided that ‘Any person who wilfully, intentionally and out of carelessness transmits HIV/AIDS to another person commits an offence and upon conviction shall be liable to community service’. While generally praising the direction the bill took HIV anti-discrimination in, this intervention also criticised other aspects of the bill, including non-consensual disclosure of HIV status and forced HIV testing of people charged with sexual offences.