President Muhammadu Buhari will sign the Petroleum Industry Bill, Pib as soon as it is communicated to him, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Hon. Umar el-Yakub has said.
The controversial bill was recently passed by the joint house of the National Assembly.
El-Yakub, who disclosed this, also revealed that the President had signed about 15 bills passed into law by the National Assembly in the just concluded legislative year.
The Presidential aide, who said he cannot give details on the PIB as well as the number of bills passed by the lawmakers and transmitted to the President so far, commended the National Assembly for the cordial working relationship existing between the Executive arms of government which he said made it possible or the signing of such bills.
He said “Let me say that there is no perfect law and we all know that the exigencies of the moment determine the actions that people take.
‘’In the case of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill; there already exists an Electoral Act. But it is in the wisdom of the lawmakers and those that sponsored the bill, that there needs to be some amendments to that Act.
“And because there exists in the legislative process, a framework that can be used to make amendments, that law is being amended.
‘’So, I believe that any law that we have today can be subjected to amendments in the future, depending on the circumstances and exigencies of that moment”.
He dismissed insinuations that the President does not respect the principle of separation of power as enshrined in the Constitution, adding the President has demonstrated on several occasions that he holds the lawmakers in very high esteem.
He said “I can tell you within the last session which they just went on break for, 15 bills were assented to by Mr. President and of course other bills were transmitted and I can’t give you the exact number of the bills that have been transmitted. I think it is a commendable thing.
“This President has respect for separation of powers as enshrined in the Constitution. That is why he gave directives that his ministers and MDAs must honor invitations of the National Assembly, not only to budget defense sessions, but in all cases”.
On why the President did not honour the invitation by the House to explain the security situation, the Presidential aide said Buhari was prepared to honour the House invitation but did not eventually do so due to “change of thinking by the leadership”.
He however gave the assurance that the government will implement the report of the National Security Summit presented to him recently by the House of Representatives, adding President Buhari has already directed all those concerned to begin to study the report for implementation as soon as possible.
