By Ghazali Ibrahim
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declined assent to a bill seeking to empower the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to retain a portion of proceeds from drug-related offences.
The Bill, originated and passed by both houses seeks to establish the agency as an independent agency with full power to act on its own.
However, the bill was met with a resistance from the president, declining his assent to the bill.
The President’s decision was conveyed in a letter read on the floor of the House of Representatives during plenary on Thursday.
In the correspondence, Tinubu cited Section 58(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which allows the President to withhold assent to any bill passed by the National Assembly.
According to the President, the proposed law conflicts with existing financial regulations governing the management and disbursement of public funds.
He noted that allowing the NDLEA to retain recovered proceeds could undermine the principles of transparency and accountability in public finance management.
The rejected bill had earlier been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.
It aimed to strengthen the NDLEA’s operational capacity by enabling the agency to access and use part of the funds recovered during drug enforcement activities.
The development is expected to spark further deliberations among lawmakers, particularly those advocating for greater autonomy and resource control for key law enforcement agencies battling drug trafficking in Nigeria.
Whether the National Assembly will use its oversight power in the interest of public opinion is a matter of discussion among Nigerians.
