President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declined to sign the Federal University of Education Numan (Establishment) Bill, 2024, citing legal inconsistencies and typographical errors in the proposed legislation.
His decision was conveyed in a letter addressed to Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, which was read during Tuesday’s plenary session by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the sitting.
In the letter, Tinubu explained that his refusal to assent stemmed primarily from a jurisdictional oversight in the bill, which grants the authority to consent to the disposal of university land to the state governor rather than the president, as should be the case for a federally owned institution.
“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 stated.
Highlighting the specific issues with the bill, he continued: “I am declining assent to the Bill due to the following: (a) Section 22 of the Bill accords the authority to consent to the disposal of land to the Governor and not the President as ought to be the case in respect of land belonging to a Federal Government entity (in the case of Universities).”
Beyond this legal concern, Tinubu also pointed out typographical errors, including the word “statutes” mistakenly spelled as “statues” in items 13 and 15 under the arrangement of sections, the omission of the preposition “of” between “award” and “degree” in Section 25(4)(b), and the phrase “one-third” erroneously written as “on-third” in Article 4(3) of the third schedule.
The rejection of the bill means the National Assembly must either address the issues raised by the president and re-present the bill or attempt to override the veto with a two-thirds majority in both chambers.
With the growing demand for quality teacher education in Nigeria, stakeholders will be keen to see if the legislative arm moves swiftly to correct the errors and secure Tinubu’s approval for the establishment of the new university in Adamawa State.
