On Thursday, 24th May 2018 the House of Representatives negatived the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill that was vetoed by the president and re-introduced to the House for override, although the Bill was scheduled for second reading the Bill sponsor, Hon. E.Y Oker-Jev (APC: Benue) was unable to convince lawmakers that the President’s reasons for declining assent were “ambiguous and insufficient” in his lead debate.
It will be recalled that the National Assembly had passed the Peace Corps Bill in 2017, after a prolonged battle involving the Peace Corps and existing national security agencies opposed to its establishment as a government agency. The Peace Corps currently exists as a volunteering organization.
President Buhari, had earlier written to the House of Representatives on Tuesday 27,February 2018 citing security concerns in his rejection of the Bill as he claimed that many of the Bill’s provisions were superfluous and were already performed by existing security and law enforcement agencies. He also stressed the financial implications of funding its operations given the Federal Government’s scarce resources.
However, the passage of the Bill failed at second reading as its support fell short of the two-third majority needed to override the President’s veto under section 58(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Section 58(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended states that “Where the President withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by each House by two-thirds majority, the bill shall become law and the assent of the President shall not be required”.
Majority of lawmakers rather appeared to support Hon. Bashir Baballe’s (APC: Kano) view that the security agencies in the country were all under funded and that it would be better to strengthen and increase the funding in existing agencies rather than creating new ones. As a result of the lack of support for the bill it was negatived.
