Reps to review Peace Corps, 21 other bills

 

The House of Representatives is to take another look at the Peace Corps Bill and consider reasons given by President Muhammadu Buhari for not signing it, before deciding the next line of action.
The House will also consider another 21 bills yet to be assented to by the president.
The 22 bills (including the Peace Corps Bill) were either rejected or not responded to by the president.
Raising a point of order on the issue yesterday, Uzomma Nkem-Abonta (Abia, PDP), drew the attention of the House to the 22 bills that were transmitted to the president at various times which he did not sign.
He quoted various sections of the Constitution which mandate the National Assembly to override the president if he fails to assent a bill after 30 days and urged the House to look at the bills that were transmitted to the president to see if the reasons he gave were good enough.
“The constitution says the rejected bills will come back to the House for us to look at it, veto it or otherwise,” he said.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara mandated the Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business to schedule a date when the House will look at the bills and see the reasons given for not assenting, and decide on what to do.
The president had in a letter sent to the House of Representatives, rejected a bill to establish the Peace Corps of Nigeria.
He cited financial implications and duplication of duties of existing security agencies, as reasons for withholding his assent to the bill.
The National Assembly is empowered by Section 58(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, to override the president on bills.
While the House requires 240 members to make up its two-thirds, the 109-member Senate requires 73 members to veto the president’s assent.
Order 12(b) (c) of the Standing Orders and Rules of the House of Representatives (2016) also provides that the rejected bill could be looked upon by the House (through a motion) and if supported by two-thirds of the House, proclaimed law without the assent of the president.

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