Reasons President Buhari rejected the Petroleum Industry Bill, others – Malami

…Cites Judicial autonomy, recovery of N260.4 billion as major achievements

 

BY KAZIE UKO

The former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari refused to sign the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) passed by the 8th National Assembly because it was not in public interest.

Malami, re-nominated by President Buhari for ministerial appointment at the screening and confirmation session of the Senate earlier today also blamed the process leading to the passage of bills, particularly, lack of synergy among the three arms of government – Executive, Legislature and Judiciary – for being responsible for withholding of assent by the President to some bills passed by the immediate past National Assembly.

He called for “deep-rooted collaboration” among the Executive and the Legislature, in particular and the three arms of government and other relevant public institutions in the process of law-making, so that at the end of the day the exercise will not be in vain.

“Let me cite an example, for example with the PIB (Petroleum Industry Bill) bill that has been raised by the distinguished Deputy Senate President. That bill was fundamentally rejected among others by the President because of the fact that the interest of the Host Community was fully compromised. It was compromised in the sense that self-serving sections were brought into it conferring powers on an individual as against the institution.

“And the public interest element of the role of the President requires that the public interest should be factored more as against public or individual interest. So, that was fundamentally the reason why among others it was not assented to by the president at the time it was indeed transmitted for assent,” Malami revealed.

Answering a question on what he would do differently if the President was to re-appoint him as the Attorney-general and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Malami said based on his first experience as minister the problems with the running of the government was embedded in the absence of synergy.

“So, the major thing I think I can do differently by way of ensuring that at the end of the day that bills coming from the National Assembly are assented to by the President is to establish a culture of collaboration; a culture of deep-rooted collaboration for that matter and not a collaboration as we see it today. What we have today perhaps is simply a public hearing arrangement as a means of perhaps entertaining opinions, contributions and observations associated with bills,” he explained.

He continued: “I think we have in place a friendly National Assembly that will allow for integrated consummation of ideas. Perhaps, may be, a bill that is rooted in the national interest should be a bill that right from conception should be shared between the Executive, the Judiciary and indeed the legislature, so as to entertain opinions, entertain objections, entertain whatever superior argument that could be accommodated for the purpose of fine-tuning it to ensure at the end of the day that it sees the light of the day for assent.

“So, what I’m saying in essence, if at point of conception, at the point of formulation and at the point of passage before then there was a collaboration in terms of understanding with the judiciary, in terms of understanding with the Executive and associated relevant institutions, institutions that have direct bearings with the spirit of the bill, I do not see that bill eventually being returned un-assented to.

“So, what I’m saying in essence is the key to the successes of the bills that are being transmitted by the National Assembly is a deep collaboration between the institutions of government and that is what I intend if at the end of the day it pleases Mr. President to allow me to continue in the Federal Ministry of Justice to ensure it is done.

“We address the issues of collaboration at the institutional level and then at the point of public hearing we collectively entertain the opinion of the public to see what further amendment, what further enhancement in the quality of the bill are put in place for the purpose of ensuring at the end of the day we succeed in having them assented to.

ON JUDICIAL AUTONOMY

“As it relates to judiciary on the other hand, I think we’re as well making progress for the purpose of interfacing or ensuring the effective delivery of judicial services by the judicial arm of the government. That can visibly be seen for the fact that for the first time the budget of the judiciary was being enhanced by the Executive.

“As at 2017, it was enhanced by two billion (Naira) and then we have now taken it up further by way of ensuring the autonomy of the state judiciary. It was never the practice before now, before the amendment of the constitution, it was never the case for the state judiciary to enjoy some level of autonomy.

“And as it obtains today not only that Mr. President assented to the constitutional provision that embedded the independent of the judiciary in terms of finances and funding but indeed goes further to have in place a committee that will see to the execution and implementation of such autonomy.

“So, I think it’s no longer a situation of he who pays the piper dictates the tune, but then we have taken and put in place policies that would at the end of the day see, one, to the independence of the judiciary and then, two, create a very good working environment in terms of collaboration…”

ON LOOTED FUNDS RECOVERED

“I am happy to report as well that during the modest period I served as the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, we increased the balance in the Federal Government of Nigeria Recovery Account from 19 billion (Naira) as it was as at the time we came into office, 29^th May, 2015, from 19 billion (Naira) to 279,389,000,000 (Naira) as at 22^nd November 2018.

“Mr. President (Senate) that translates to 1,329 percent increase in recoveries.

“Mr. President (Senate), the Federal Ministry of Justice exclusively recovered $779,495,900 out of this amount. And indeed, in Naira, we recovered 59,163,000,000 within the period under review.”

ON WHAT I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR

“I want to be remembered as the Attorney-General that stopped the drift of this nation into disintegration, taken into consideration what is being manifested arising from the hate speeches among others.

“So, my major task and intention is to ensure that our laws relating to treason and treasonable felony are indeed effectively brought to bear to ensure that this nation of ours remains one and the same; ensure that at the end of the day that aggressively we intensify the fight against corruption, recover looted assets locally and internationally and at the end of the day make our system of governance – Executive, Judicial and Legislative – efficient and effective.”