There are strong indications that the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) and over 30 other bills which President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent to may not be transmitted to him before the expiration of the 8th Assembly.
BusinessDay investigations reveal that over 30 harmonised bills passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives were not assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari since assumption of duty on May 29, 2015.
Some of the bills include critical economic legislative framework, namely, Petroleum Industry (Governance) Bill, National Transport Commission Bill 2018, Federal Roads Authority Establishment Bill 2018, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission Bill 2018, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Bill 2018, and Maritime Security Operation Coordination Board Amendment Bill.
BusinessDay gathered that currently, no serious action may be taken on these bills until the 9th Assembly comes on board as political campaigns have taken centre-stage.
Nigerians will go to the polls on February 16 to elect a president and legislators for the next four years. Both President Buhari and many members of the National Assembly are seeking re-election in next month’s polls.
Edward Pwajok, chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, who spoke exclusively with our correspondent, disclosed that the PIGB particularly has been referred to the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) for further legislative action. Standing committees have also been given the mandate to review the various issues raised by President Buhari in his letters communicating his decision to decline assent to the bills.
When asked of the timeline given to the standing committees to conclude the review of various issues raised by President Buhari in the letters, Pwajok said, “There was no timeline.”
It would be recalled that in a letter to the National Assembly declining assent to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission Bill 2018, Buhari explained that the Bill would interfere with the smooth running of federal revenue-generating agencies and also cited drafting issues that affect the clarity of the purpose of the bill.
Other bills President Buhari declined assent to are the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2018, Energy Commission Amendment Bill 2018, Federal Polytechnic Amendment Bill 2018, National Broadcasting Commission Amendment Bill 2018, Bill for an Act to Establish Police Procurement Fund, Bill for an Act to amend the Environmental Health Officers Registration, Bill for an Act to Establish the Chartered Institute of Loan and Risk Management of Nigeria, Bill for an Act to Establish the Chartered Institute of Public Management of Nigeria, Bill for an Act to Establish the Chartered Institute of Treasury Management, Bill for an Act to Establish the Nigerian Council for Social Work, and Bill for an Act to Amend the Currency Conversion of Prison Orders.
In line with Section 58 (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), President Buhari via a letter dated June 21, 2018 also conveyed to both the House and Senate his decision to decline assent to four bills, namely, the National Child Protection and Enforcement Agency Bill 2018, Courts and Tribunals (Standard Scale of Fines) Bill 2017, Corporate Manslaughter Bill of 2018, as well as Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill 2018.
Buhari also said he withheld presidential assent to the Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill because the increase in the fund size to N50 billion, a principal basis of the bill, would not be effective as currently drafted.
“This is because the introductory language in Section 5(1) of the principal Act which sets out the size of the fund retains the original fund size of N100 million. I am ready to grant presidential assent to this bill once this drafting is rectified,” he said in the letter.
Aggrieved members of the House of Reps on March 21, 2018 moved a motion to override the president in line with Section 58(5) of the constitution, which provides that “where the president withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-third majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the president shall not be required”.
The motion, which was sponsored by Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, chairman, House Committee on Public Petitions, was in response to Buhari’s decision to decline assent to the Peace Corps Bill and 21 other bills.
In response to the motion, House Speaker Yakubu Dogara mandated the House Committee on Rules and Business to compile the list of all the bills not assented to so far.
On March 28, 2018, the House moved a motion to rescind its decision on 11 bills passed by the National Assembly and sent to the president for assent. According to the motion sponsored by Emmanuel Orker-Jev, who was recently redeployed to chair the House Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) withdrew the below-listed bills from the president after he was convinced that there was a need to reconsider the bills and make necessary amendments.
The bills are the Federal Competition and Consumers Protection Bill 2018, Franchise Bill 2018, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (Establishment) Bill 2018, National Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science (Establishment) Bill 2018, Nigerian Academy of Science (Establishment) Bill 2018, Corporate Manslaughter Bill 2018, and National Assembly Budget and Research Office (Establishment) Bill 2018.
Others are National Child Protection and Enforcement Agency (Establishment) Bill 2018, Federal Capital Territory Civil Service Commission (Establishment) Bill 2018, Animal Health and Husbandry Technologists Registration Board (Establishment) Bill 2018, and Conference Committee Report on Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Bill 2018.
