ABUJA – President Muhammadu Buhari has withheld assent on The Chartered Institute of Treasury Management (Establishment, etc) Bill 2017; and The Federal University of Wukari (establishment, etc) Bill 2017, which were passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Reps, and forwarded to him for assent into law.
In two separate letters to the NASS yesterday, (Tuesday, November 21, 2017), the president declined to give his assent to the bills because of certain words and phrases used in the documents.
The president’s letter which was read by Senate President Bukola Saraki reads in part:
Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) I hereby convey to the Senate, my decision, on 25th October, 2017 to withhold assent to the Chartered Institute of Treasury Management (establishment, etc) Bill 2017.”
“The rationale for withholding assent is regarding certain words and phrases utilised in the bill.
“For instance statutes should replace regulation throughout the bill for consistently. Paragraph 9 (1) of the first schedule should refer to the president and not the visitor and paragraph 5 of the first schedule should refer to sub-paragraph 2 and not sub-paragraph 3.
“The phrase treasury management is not defined in the bill, greater clarity maybe required regarding the impact of the bill of the central bank’s regulation of treasury managers in banks and the relationship between the professional institutes and other existing professional institutes that regulate treasury managers in Nigeria.
However, President Buhari sent three other bills to the Senate for consideration and passage into law,
The new bills are Federal Institute for Industrial research Bill 2017, Nigeria natural medicine development agency (establishment) bill 2017 and the raw materials research and development council (repeal and re-enactment) bill 2017.
