The Senate has passed seven of the at least 16 bills rejected so far this year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The bills are the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Bill, National Research and Innovation Council Bill, Stamp Duties Act (Amendment) Bill, National Agricultural Seed Council Bill, Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund (Amendment) Bill and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill.
Buhari had expressed reservations about the constitutionality of passing the bills into law, and therefore wrote the Senate to reconsider them.
The upper chamber also initiated moves to the override the President’s veto on the Fourth Alteration Bill No.28 — a constitutional amendment that seeks to mandate the President and state governors to present annual budget estimates before legislature at most three months to the end of a financial year. It also seeks to encourage early presentation and passage of Appropriation Bills.
The President had rejected the bill, arguing that it didn’t capture the provisions of Section 58(4) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
With the Industrial Development Amendment Bill, which, if passed, will enable companies expand their operations in pioneer industry or product to apply for a new pioneer status, the President had declined, saying assenting to it would interfere with ongoing inter-ministerial consultations.
However, even though the Senate had listed both bills — the Fourth Alteration Bill No.28 and the Industrial Development Amendment Bill — in its Order Paper for the day as meant to be overruled. However, the two bills were not considered at the end of plenary.
News report Exactly a week ago had it that a clash was brewing between the executive and the legislature in the about-to-expire life of the current political dispensation, as the Senate had resolved to overrule the President’s veto on two bills.
