President Bola Tinubu declines assent to 2 National Assembly bills, citing constitutional and drafting problems.
He sent the Raw Materials Council and Chartered Institute of Purchasing bills back for review and asked for corrections before he will approve them.
The President Flags Legal Defects in Raw Materials and Procurement Bills
President Bola Tinubu declines assent to two bills recently passed by the National Assembly, saying they have constitutional and structural issues that need to be fixed before they can become law.
The two bills are the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria Bill.
In letters read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Tinubu explained that he made his decision based on Section 58(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which lets the President return bills with comments for further review.
For the Raw Materials Council Bill, Tinubu pointed out problems with how it was written. The President said the long title did not clearly show its main goal of supporting and protecting Nigeria’s raw materials.
He also noted that Section 2 mixed up the council’s functions, treating them as legislative goals instead of practical duties. He added that some parts about value addition were in the wrong place, making the bill confusing and hard to understand.
For the Chartered Institute Bill, Tinubu said some parts tried to give the institute more power than it should have.
He disagreed with rules that would require companies to notify the institute of procurement appointments and allow the institute to inspect and penalise organisations under the Companies and Allied Matters Act. He said these powers are not legal because the institute is not the regulator for those organisations.
Even with these concerns, Tinubu said many of the suggested changes were good. He said the bills could be sent back for approval once the problems are fixed.
The Senate has sent the issue to its Committee on Rules and Business, which will look into it further over the next four weeks.
According to the Constitution, lawmakers can change the bills based on the President’s suggestions or, if needed, override his veto by following the proper steps.
