Buhari declines assent to five bills

President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected five bills sent to him
by the national assembly.

The bills are revenue mobilisation, allocation and fiscal
commission amendment bill, 2018; bankruptancy and insolvency bill,
2018; federal polytechnic amendment bill, 2018; maritime security
operations coordinating board amendment bill, 2018 and energy
commission amendment bill, 2018.

The president’s decision were contained in five letters written
to the national assembly and read by Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate
president, on the floor of upper legislative chamber on
Thursday.

Buhari explained that he declined assent to the revenue
mobilisation amendment bill because it would obstruct “its motive
and administration of revenue generating agencies of the federal
government.”

“The bill will confer the powers of oversight of the revenue
currently vested in the president and minister of finance to the
revenue mobilization, allocation and fiscal commission and negate
the existing provision of section 51 Federal Inland Revenue
Services,” Buhari said.

“The proposed insertion in a section 6 (a) of the bill with
regards to the removal of earns of generating revenue agencies
needs to be harmonized with the various establishment acts of these
agencies which contains specific terms and procedures for the
removal of chief executive officers.”

On the bankruptancy and insolvency bill, the president said
there were drafting issues “that affect the clarity and
understanding of the bill.”

“For instance, section 65 (1) imposes a duty on a banker to
report the existence of the account of an undischarged bankrupt to
the trustees as it is incumbent on the banker to both ascertain
that the customer is an undischarged bankrupt and also locate the
relevant trustee to provide the information about the account of
such customer,” he said.

“This obligation reates operational difficulties. The duty of a
banker to disclose information about accounts is better and it
should be predicated on a request for information and trustee.

“A number of provisions in a bill to be properly domesticated
and aligned to Nigerian law for instance. Section 87 capital stock
should read capital.”

On the federal polytechnic amendment bill, Buhari said bestowing
powers on the federal executive council to remove governing boards
of polytechnics instead of the president is cumbersome.

“Section 3 (f) of the amendment bill which leaves membership of
the governing council of polytechnics as consisting of
representatives of the ministry or regulatory body is not
acceptable and this may ultimately jeopardize the supervisory role
of the ministry or the council,” he said.

“It is desirable that the ministry’s presence on the council is
clear and unambiguous.”

He said he declined assent to the maritime security operations
coordinating board amendment bill because the proposed amendments
would create distortion and duplication to the functions and
operations of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety
Agency (NIMASA).

“I urge the senate to focus on passing the suppression of piracy
and other maritime offences bill currently before the national
assembly to achieve a more comprehensive review of operations in
the maririme sector within the objective of realgnining its
agencies for more efficient service delivery and focus on the
security of our maritime frontiers,” he said.

On the energy commission amendment bill, the president said the
proposed section 8 of the bill providing for the commission to
receive an annual subversion of not less than 0.5 percent from the
federation account is “unconstitutional.”

“The bill infringes on the rural electrifications agency’s power
to carry out its mandate in particular reference to the promotion
and development of unserved and underserved rural communitites
across Nigeria,” he said.

Buhari also sent the food safety and quality bill 2018 to the
national assembly for passage into law.