As the 8th Assembly round up in Niger state, The Nation learnt that two bills passed by the House of Assembly and sent to the Governor for assertion were rejected.
The two bills are, ‘A law to provide for continuation and completion of projects stated by the proceeding administration in Niger state and for connected purposes 2019’ and ‘A law to provide for retirement age of academic and non academic staff of tertiary institutions and connected purposes 2019’.
The reasons were given in a letter written by the Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello to the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
Giving reasons why he refused to assent the first bill into law, the Governor said every government got elected based on certain promises made during the election campaign and party manifestoes stating that he cannot jettison his programmes and projects to focus on the project of his predecessors.
“These promises and manifestos form the bulk of the priorities of any government. It is therefore inadvisable to insist or compel any government to abadon, forgo or delay its own priorities for those of preceding government as this bill seek to achieve.
“As good as the idea may sound, there is no such thing anywhere in the world and this is certainly not the way to go. ”
He then called on the legislators to jettison the bill, “I implore you in the interest of the state, to consider my observation and jettison the bill in its entirety.”
The Governor while giving reason for his refusal to assent to the second bill said there is no precedent anywhere in Nigeria for rising the retirement age of non-academic staff adding that the state does not have the requisite financial strength to accommodate the non-academic staff.
“I, however, regret to inform you that I am unable to assent to the bill. The bill as passed into law by the Niger state House of Assembly is radically different from the version we proposed.
“The objective of the bill is to address the manpower concern of academic staff of our tertiary institutions arising from the depleting number of experienced academic staff due to retirement.
“There is no precedent anywhere in Nigeria for rising the retirement of non-academic staff. Also including non-academic staff will create serious labor crisis for the government. In addition, the government does not have the requisite financial strength to accommodate non-academic staff.
The Governor then urged the House to revert to the original idea of the Bill, “I am therefore referring the Bill to the House to consider my observations and revert to the original idea of the Bill.”
