Why I refused to sign Peace Corps bill - President Buhari

macfranc007 February 28, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Oluwatobi Bolashodun

- Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in a letter explains why he rejected the proposed Peace Corps of Nigeria establishment bill

- The president's letter was read by the Speaker of House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday, February 27

- President Buhari cited security concerns and financial burden of funding the organisation by the government as his reasons for rejecting the bill

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, February 27, said financial implications of funding the Peace Corps bill recently passed by the National Assembly was one of the reason why he withheld his assent to bill.

The president in a letter titled ‘PRESIDENTIAL DECISION TO DECLINE ASSENT TO NIGERIAN PEACE CORPS (ESTABLISHMENT) BILL 2017 RECENTLY PASSED BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY’, read by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday, February 27, cited a number reasons for his decision.

President Buhari in the letter cited ”security concerns regarding the proposed outfit being authorised to undertake activities currently being performed by extant security and law enforcement agencies.”

He also cited financial implications of funding the establishment and operations of the proposed peace corps adding that the scarce financial resources may pose serious challenge to the government.

Ossai Nicholas, a member of the House of Representatives from Delta state, in reaction to the decision of the president described the action as the beauty of lawmaking.

Nicholas said the house will sit and x-ray the reasons that the president had given to see whether ”they are reasonable or probably not”, adding that lawmaking does not end only at the doorstep of the legislature.

He further said if the reasons given by President Buhari are not germane, ”he’ll personally lead a lobbying process to make sure the house vetos him.”

Yusuf Ayinla, another lawmaker from Lagos state, said the issue must be looked at from the angle of unemployment.

He said the bill will help tackle the menace of unemployment in Nigeria and the glory would have gone to the president ”but it is now a free opportunity for the National Assembly to take all the glory.”

“That bill will help the president himself for lifting zero employment to a better place,” he said.

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According to an earlier report by NAIJ.com, the National assembly confirmed President Muhammadu Buhari's rejection of the proposed Peace Corps of Nigeria establishment bill.

The Cable reports that the president conveyed his rejection of the bill in a letter read during plenary on Tuesday, February 27, by Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house.

The national assembly passed the bill in 2015, after a prolonged battle involving the organisation and the nation’s security agencies.

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