ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-President Bola Tinubu has declined to sign the Federal University of Education Numan, Adamawa State (Establishment) Bill, 2024, citing concerns over certain provisions.
His decision was conveyed in a letter to the House of Representatives, which was read on the floor of the chamber on Tuesday by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Binos Yaroe of Adamawa South, was passed by the National Assembly earlier this year and sent to the President for approval.
In his letter, Tinubu objected to Section 22 of the bill, which grants the Adamawa State Governor authority to dispose of land belonging to the federal institution.
He emphasized that matters concerning federally owned properties, particularly universities, fall under the jurisdiction of the President.
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“Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, I hereby convey to the House of Representatives my decision taken on December 23, 2024, to decline presidential assent to the Federal University of Education, Numan Establishment Bill 2024 recently passed by the National Assembly.
“I am declining assent to the bill as Section 22 of the bill confers the authority to the disposal of the land of the university on the governor and not the President as it ought to be in the case of land belonging to the Federal Government,” the letter read in part.
At a stakeholders’ forum last week in the Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Yaroe clarified that Tinubu did not reject the bill but merely highlighted clerical errors in the proposed legislation.
“The President pointed out certain errors in the bill that needed to comply with the constitution. For instance, we mistakenly assigned the power to grant land authority to the governor instead of the President, who is the rightful visitor for the institution. We will rectify this error by replacing the governor with the president in the bill,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the House suspended plenary until Wednesday, February 5, 2025, in honor of the late Deputy Whip, Adewunmi Onanuga, who passed away on January 15.
Onanuga, aged 59, represented the Ikenne/Sagamu/Remo North Federal Constituency of Ogun State and previously served as Chairperson of the House Committee on Women Affairs in the 9th Assembly.