President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to grant assent to three bills passed by the National Assembly into law. President Buhari’s refusal to sign the bills was contained in a letter he sent to both chambers of the national assembly.
The National Assembly passed the three bills in December 2017. The bills are: 1) the Police Procurement Fund (Establishment) Bill 2017), 2) Chartered Institute of Public Management of Nigeria Bill, 2017, and 3) the Nigerian Council of Social Work (Establishment) Bill 2017. However, Buhari’s letter refusing assent to the bills were read to Senators by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over Tuesday’s plenary in the Senate and by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Yakubu Dogara, to the house members at the lower chamber. According to the letter, Buhari withheld signing the Chartered Institute of Public Management of Nigeria Bill “due to lack of clarity over the scope of the profession of ‘social work,’” and because the bill “prohibits all persons who are not members of the institute from practicing.” Buhari also declined his assent to the Police Procurement Fund (Establishment) Bill “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).” The President also refused to grant assent to the bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Council of Social Work, “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”.
Source: Vanguard
