As reactions continue to trill the rejection of Peace Corps Bill by President Muhammad Buhari, a lawmaker representing Abia North senatorial district, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, has said the Bill was still in transit and that it would definitely complete its cycle.
President Buhari had on Tuesday transmitted a letter to the House of Representatives and to the Senate on Wednesday, informing the lawmakers that he was withholding his assent on the Bill due to paucity of funds and duplication of duties.
But Senator Ohuabunwa told Journalists in Abuja Wednesday, that he was extremely “surprised” that the President did not jump at the Bill, especially because it could potentially “endear his party (APC) to the people.”
He said: “Personally I was surprised because I thought that, it was a bill the President would jump at, knowing that it would be an opportunity to create jobs for our teeming youths, especially now when we have so many security challenges.
“For me, I thought that this is one Bill that would help us at this time and the government and the party really would jump at it, at least, as something that would endear you to the people. This is more like the people’s Bill. Youths are already yearning for it. Everybody is geared towards it. Everything must not be legalistic in a political dispensation.”
Speaking on the issue of funding cited by Buhari as part of the reasons why he rejected the bill, the lawmaker said: “There is no where you have a domiciled fund, kept for a particular program or project of the agency or government. The creation of the agency would now enable provision of funds. You should look at things for the benefit of the people and going extra mile for providing even resources for the funds.”
According to him, the President should have assented to the bill because it is a “scientific approach to security, unemployment and intelligence reporting.”
He said what the country needed at the moment was intelligence gathering and civil way of fighting crime.
On the excuse of duplication of duties, the lawmaker said, there is virtually no agency that does not interwove with others.
He said the only agency that performs exclusive function in the country is the Nigerian Police, which is solely responsible for prosecution of accused persons in court.
He assured Nigerian youths that the Bill would surely reach the last point of legislative process, adding that, “Withholding of assent is not the end of the bill.”
According to him, “the bill is still in transit. It is in a process. Every bill has a process. Withholding of assent is not the end of the bill. So the bill has a process. I believe that this is one bill that will complete its cycle.”
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