ABUJA – President Mohammadu Buhari has rejected four bills forwarded to him by the National Assembly for his assent, for duplicity and want of diligence.
The Bills included “National Child Protection and Enforcement Agency (‘NCPEA’) Bill of 2018”; “The Courts and Tribunals Standard Scale of Fines Bill of 2017”; “Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill of 2018”: and “Corporate Manslaughter Bill of 2018”.
President Buhari declined his “Presidential Assent” to the Bills, “pursuant to Section 58(4) of Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
He stated that his decision, on the National Child Protection and Enforcement Agency (NCPEA) Bill of 2018 recently was because,
“a) All the proposed duties and responsibilities of the proposed agency are currently the statutory responsibilities of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs”; and
“b) The creation of the NCPEA may lead to the duplication of mandates of Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (‘MDAs‘), which would result in the wastage of scarce financial and other resources”.
On the Courts and Tribunals Standard Scale of Fines Bill of 2017, Buhari noted that:
“a) The proposed standard scale of fines appears to be ambiguous, as it does not clearly state the manner by which any given offence will fall under a particular level on the scale;
b) The proposed scale of fines may conflict with existing penalties and fines under extant Nigerian laws, which already impose penalties and fines for various offences. This may result in confusion; and
c) As the Naira’s value is dynamic, a fixed scale of fines may impair the ease of future review of Nigerian laws setting out penalties and fines for offences”.
On the Corporate Manslaughter Bill of 2018, Buhari has this to say: “specifically, my attention has been drawn to Section 1(5) of this Bill, which imposes a fine upon the mere indictment of a corporate organization of the criminai offence of corporate manslaughter.
This provision appears to be inconsistent with Section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution, which enshrines the presumption of innocence until the alleged offender is convicted by a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction.
Furthermore, it may be useful for the Bill to cover instances of career-ending and life-threatening injuries (and not just wrongful death).
Finally, the bill should clearly specify the penalties to be imposed for the offences created by the Bill”.
On the Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill of 2018, Buhari submitted:
“This is due to the fact that the increase in the fund size to N50 Billion, which is a principal basis of the Agriculture Guarantee Amendment Bill Will not be effective as currently drafted 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 Naira.
I am ready to grant Presidential Assent to this Bill once this drafting is rectified”.
Buhari however ended the letters with: “Please accept, Distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest consideration” respectively.
