President Muhammadu Buhari's letter to the House of Representatives, declining assent to the Bill seeking the establishment of Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) has been obtained by Vigil360. Recall that the Speaker of the House had on Tuesday at plenary read the letter to members of the House. He noted that the President withheld assent because of security concerns as well as paucity of funds.
The letter read in full;
PRESIDENTIAL DECISION TO DECLINE ASSENT TO NIGERIAN PEACE CORPS (ESTABLISHMENT) BILL, 2017 RECENTLY PASSED BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
“Pursue to section 68(4) of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the House of Representatives, my decision on 25, January, 2018 to decline presidential assent to the Nigeria Peace Corps establishment bill, 2017 recently passed by the national assembly.
Specifically, reasons for the decision to decline assent to this bill include among others:
a. security concerns regarding the proposed Nigeria Peace Corps bill being authorized to undertake activities currently being performed by extant security and law enforcement agencies and;
b. Financial implication of funding the establishment and operations of the proposed Nigeria Peace Corps, given the scarce financial resources may pose serious challenge to the government
“Please accept, right Honourable Speaker the assurance of my highest consideration.”
