President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday wrote the leadership of the Senate on why he is withholding accent to three bills passed by the National Assembly over inconsistency and conflict with the Constitution.
The bills are – the Police Procurement Fund (Establishment) Bill 2017, Chartered Institute of Management of Nigeria Bill 2017, and the Nigerian Council for Social Works (Establishment) Bill 2017.
The President informed the Senate about the development in a letter read by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, at Tuesday’s plenary.
Ekweremadu presided over the plenary in the absence of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who is standing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) for false assets declaration.
The trial resumed on Tuesday after the Court of Appeal had in December last year restored three out of the 18-count charge and ordered the Senate president to present himself for trial on the matter.
The letter reads: “I hereby convey to the Senate my decision on 25th January 2018 to decline presidential assent to three bills recently passed by the National Assembly, namely Police Procurement Fund (Establishment) Bill 2017, due to lack of clarity regarding the manner of disbursement of the fund as well as constitutional issues regarding the powers of the National Assembly to appropriate funds allocated to the 36 states and 744 local governments which conflicts with Sections 80 to 82 and 120 to 122 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
“The Chartered Institute of Management of Nigeria Bill 2017, due to lack of clarity over the scope of the profession of public management, that this bill prohibits persons who are not members of the institute from practising.
“Nigerian Council for Social Works (Establishment) Bill 2017, due to lack of clarity over the scope of the profession of social works, that this bill prohibits all persons who are not members of the institute from practising.”
