President Bola Tinubu has decline assent to the Federal University of Education, Numan Establishment Bill, 2024, due to concerns found in Section 22, the 3rd Schedule of the Bill, as well as some other technical issues.

The president’s withdrawal of assent was communicated to the House of Representatives via a letter addressed to Speaker Tajudeen Abbas dated 10th January 2025 and personally signed by him.

The letter, which was read on the floor by Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu read “Pursuant to Section 58(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I hereby convey to the House of Representatives, my decision on 23rd December 2024 to decline Presidential assent to the Federal University of Education Numan (Establishment) Bill, 2024 recently passed by the National Assembly.

“I am declining assent to the Bill due to the following; a) Section 22 of the Bill accords the authority to consent to the disposal of land to the Governor and not the President as ought to be the case in respect of land belonging to a Federal Government entity (in the case of Universities); “b) The word “statutes” is spelled as “statues” in items 13 and 15 under arrangement of sections; “c) The preposition “of” is omitted between the word “award” and “degree” in section 25(4)(b), and “d) The phrase “onethird” is spelled as “onthird” in article 4(3) of the third schedule to the Bill.”