President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assented to the Nigeria Police Training Institute (Establishment) Bill and the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Amendment) Bill.
This was announced in a letter to the National Assembly and read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio at the resumption of plenary yesterday.
The two Bills are aimed at addressing the lingering funding and training deficits of the police force.
First enacted in 2019, the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Act seeks to provide a dedicated source of funding for training, equipment, operations, and welfare of the police to ensure public safety.
The Police Training Institute (Establishment) Bill also underscores a significant step to modernizing and professionalising the law enforcement training framework in the country.
In the letter, the President also communicated his refusal to assent to two Bills, which he said were “tainted with fundamental defects”.
The Bills are: the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (Establishment) Bill 2025 and the National Assembly Library Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill, 2025.
“Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the Senate, my decision to decline assent to the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (Establishment) Bill 2025.
“The rationale for my decision is that the Bill is tainted with fundamental defects, such as Section 18, subsection 4(a).
“The Bill expands the source of funding of the National Transport Logistics Research to include one per cent of freight on every import and every export, from Nigeria, without the approval of the Federal Executive Council. Moreso, when the Institute is to be funded by the same Federal Government.
“Section 21(2) empowers the institute to borrow by way of loan or overdraft without the consent of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, except where the amount to be borrowed is above N50 million.
“In the extant Act, borrowing can be made with the approval of the President. The removal of the approval of the President has not been explained or justified.
“The provision could be abused as the institute may request to borrow an amount equal to N50 million or less to avoid Presidential approval. This will amount to serious financial abuse
“Section 23(4) is on the power to invest surplus funds. Since the institute is to be funded by the Federal Government and money appropriated by the government for any agency is usually projected and accounted for, it is unlikely to have surpluses.
“The issue of investing surplus funds is usually applicable to agencies that are not funded by the federal government of Nigeria, but generate revenue to spend.
“In addition, Section 21 states that it is the surplus fund of the Institute that should be invested, while Section 23 states that any of the institute’s funds could be invested. This can allow funds other than surpluses to be diverted for investment purposes from their original purpose.
“Section 18(2) requires money in the fund to be applied towards the promotion of the objectives and functions of the Act.
“It does not include or recognise the investment of the funds of the Institute. This seems contradictory to Section 23, which proposes to allow the Institute to invest its funds on securities as approved by the Minister. On the above reasons, I withhold my assent to the Bill.”
Akpabio thanked the President for taking the time to go through the Bill and pointing out anomalies that need to be rectified.
He said: “I want to thank the President for taking the time to go through every Bill that we sent to the Executive.
“This is very impressive because it means that the Executive took time to go through, clause by clause. And so, we will do justice to all the observations put forward by the President.”
Commenting on the reason for rejecting the proposed National Assembly Library Trust Fund (Establishment) Amendment Bill, 2025, President Tinubu said: “Notwithstanding the laudable objectives of the legislation, certain provisions contained therein go against the settled law and policies of the Federal Government of Nigeria as it relates to funding of agencies under the National Assembly, taxation of national entities, public service remuneration, as well as age and year of service, among others.
“If this Bill becomes law, these provisions will establish an unsustainable precedent against the public interest.
“Further to the above, I will not be granting presidential assent to the Bill. I hope that the Senate will take necessary steps to fix the identified issues with this legislation.”
Credit: thenationonlineng.net
