President Bola Tinubu has refused to sign the Federal University of Education Numan (Establishment) Bill, 2024, citing multiple errors and inconsistencies in the legislation.
His decision was communicated to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, in a letter read during Tuesday’s plenary session by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu.
Tinubu highlighted key flaws in the bill, including the improper assignment of land disposal approval to the governor instead of the president, a deviation from standard procedures for federal institutions. He also pointed out typographical and structural errors.
“Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the House of Representatives my decision on 23rd December 2024 to decline Presidential assent to the Federal University of Education Numan (Establishment) Bill, 2024 recently passed by the National Assembly,” Tinubu wrote.
He detailed specific reasons for his decision:
- Section 22 wrongly assigns the power to approve land disposal to the governor instead of the president.
- “Statutes” is misspelled as “statues” in items 13 and 15 under the arrangement of sections.
- Section 25(4)(b) omits the preposition “of” between “award” and “degree.”
- Article 4(3) of the third schedule incorrectly spells “one-third” as “on-third.”
With the bill rejected, the National Assembly may need to correct the identified errors before resubmitting it for presidential approval.