The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has said President Muhammadu Buhari rejected many bills from the National Assembly because they are “stupid bills.”
Shehu, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, also berated the outgoing 8th Assembly of frustrating Buhari especially in the area of delaying the passage of the budget in 2018.
He was reacting to claims by the Senate that it had passed 306 bills which is the highest number of bills passed by a legislative arm of government in Nigeria’s history while Buhari had the record for the highest number of rejected bills.
Shehu said Buhari was known to be meticulous with his work, and will always take his time to study the documents before appending his signature.
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He said during the minimum wage bill amendment, for instance, the President drew up a list comprising ministers, stakeholders and even members of the judiciary to evaluate and agree with the contents of the bill before signing it.
He added that such rigorous processes take time but it helps prevent the President from signing stupid bills.
The President’s spokesman said, “Let me say that the President is very methodical in dealing with matters such as this. A President could sit in that powerful office and act like he knows it all and I think in this country, we have had such Presidents but President Buhari is different because whenever bills come for signature, he will ask that a long list of stakeholders be drawn up. For example, the minimum wage bill he which signed.
“Prior to that, labour groups had been demanding that he sign immediately but he refused and identified all stakeholders, ministers and even the judiciary were made to sign off on it and when this process is on, it takes a lot of time.
“Sometimes deadlines are issued and re-issued. However, the point is that at the end of it, a thorough job is done so that the President does not sign stupid documents and that is important for this country.”
Shehu said, “The delay which was experienced in 2018 in which the National Assembly held unto the budget for seven months is good enough for the Guinness Book of Records and the President lamented this.”
On whether some ministers who failed to appear before the National Assembly to defend their respective budgets did not contribute to the delay, Shehu said the parliament should have summoned such ministers if it were true.