Buhari Withholds Assent To Three Bills Passed By National Assembly

President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to sign three bills passed by the National Assembly into law.

The three bills, passed in December 2017, are the Police Procurement Fund (Establishment) Bill 2017), Chartered Institute of Public Management of Nigeria Bill, 2017, and the Nigerian Council of Social Work (Establishment) Bill 2017.

The President informed the lawmakers of his decision to withhold assent to the bills in letters to both chambers of the National Assembly.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Yakubu Dogara, read the letter to the reps, while the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over Tuesday’s plenary in the Senate read a copy to the senators.

In the letter, President Buhari said he declined assent to the bill seeking to establish a Police Procurement Fund “due to lack of clarity regarding the manner of disbursement of funds, as well as Constitutional issues regarding the powers of the National Assembly to appropriate funds allocated to the 36 state governments and 774 Local Governments, which conflict with Sections 80 – 82, and 120 – 122 of the 199 Constitution (as amended).”

President Buhari rejected the Chartered Institute of Public Management of Nigeria Bill “due to lack of clarity over the scope of the profession of ‘public management’ that this bill prohibits all persons who are not members of the institute from practicing”.

The third bill, which seeks to establish the Nigerian Council of Social Work, was rejected “due to lack of clarity over the scope of the profession of ‘social work’” that the bill “prohibits all persons who are not members of the institute from practicing”.