President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday declined assent to five bills passed by the National Assembly.
The development brings to 26 the number of bills passed by the Eighth National Assembly and rejected by the President.
In a letter addressed to Senate President Bukola Saraki and read at Wednesday plenary, the President listed the newly rejected bills to include: Nigerian Film Corporation Bill, Immigration (Amendment) Bill, Climate Change Bill, Chattered Institute of Pension Practitioners Bill as well as Digital Rights and Freedom Bill.
President Buhari explained that he rejected the Immigration Bill because it would have adverse effect on Nigeria’s position on the Ease of Doing Business ranking if signed into law, adding that the Chattered Institute of Pension Practitioners Bill amounted to duplication of functions with an existing institute.
Other bills earlier rejected by Buhari since 2015 include: the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), Stamp Duties (Amendment) Bill, Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) (Amendment) Bill, National Research and Innovation Council (Est.) Bill, National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (Est.) Bill and National Agricultural Seeds Council Bill.
Others are Chattered Institute of Entrepreneurship (Est.) Bill, Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences (Amendment) Bill, Subsidiary Legislation (Legislative Scrutiny) Bill, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (Amendment) Bill as well as five constitution amendment bills.
Also rejected are: National Transport Commission Bill, Federal Road Authority (Establishment) Bill, National Broadcasting Commission Amendment Bill, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) Act (Amendment) Bill and Federal Polytechnics Act (Amendment) Bill.
The Senate had earlier set up a Technical Committee on Declined Assent to Bills, chaired by David Umaru to look into the rejected bills by the President.
Although the Technical Committee laid its report in December last year, the report of the David Umaru-led panel is yet to be considered.
BusinessDay reports that Saraki had on September 10, 2018 announced the setting up of a technical committee to review 15 critical bills earlier rejected by President Buhari.
When Saraki inquired why the report of the committee was yet to be submitted, he was immediately reminded by a member of the panel that it had done so.
At this point, the Senate President assured that a date would be fixed to consider the report of the committee.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
