The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday finally signed the 2017 Appropriation Bill into law in the presence of the principal officers of the National Assembly and other top government officials.
Osinbajo accented the Budget around 4:42 p.m.
It is the first time in recent years that an acting president would sign the budget into law.
The budget was passed by the National Assembly some weeks back while President Muhammadu Buhari left Nigeria for the United Kingdom on 7th May to follow up on his medical consultation with his doctors
The budget, which was presented in December 2016 before the two chambers of the national assembly by President Buhari, had an estimate of N7.28 trillion but was raised to N7.44 trillion by the Federal lawmakers.
Details of the budget showed that N434.4 billion was appropriated for statutory transfers to the National Judicial Council (N100 billion); Niger Delta Development Commission (N64.02 billion); Universal Basic Education (N95.2 billion); National Assembly (N125 billion); Public Complaints Commission (N4 billion); INEC (N45 billion); and National Human Rights Commission (N1.2 billion).
The budget christened “Budget of Economic Recovery and Growth” has a revenue projection of N5.08trn and an aggregate expenditure of N7.44trn.
The projected fiscal deficit of N2.36trn is to be financed largely by borrowing.
Shortly after signing the document into law at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Osinbajo described the budget as an important milestone in the nation’s economic recovery and growth plan laid in April by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It is designed to bring the Nigerian economy out of recession unto a path of sustainable and inclusive growth. The budget has a revenue projection of N5.08 trillion and an aggregate expenditure of N7.44 trillion. The projected fiscal deficit of N2.36 trillion is to be financed largely by borrowing”.
“Let me assure those who have expressed concern about the growing public debt that we are taking several actions to grow government revenues as well as plug revenue leakages. This is because, notwithstanding the fact that our borrowings are still within sustainability limits, we are determined, in the medium term, to reduce our reliance on borrowings to finance our expenditures.
He commended the Ministry of Budget and National Planning for preparing a good document, and the National Assembly for the rancour-free manner in which it passed it.
Osinbajo however said he delayed the signing of the budget because of the disagreements the Executive had about the changes introduced to the document by the Legislature.
He said the Executive’s stance was that the changes affected some of the Federal Government’s priority programmes and would make implementation difficult or even impossible.
Details of the budget, as approved by the National Assembly, will be made available by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Osinbajo said.
Hours before the budget signing, President Buhari in a letter to the Minister of Budget, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, gave Acting President Osinbajo, the green light to sign the budget on his behalf.
President Buhari wrote the letter to the minister, according to a statement by Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president on the media and publicity.
The budget will also splash N2trillion on capital expenditure.
Buhari, who is recuperating in London said he had received a full briefing on the Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly.
To buttress the unity at the highest level of government, he said he was yielding his signatory authority to Osinbajo.
Osinbajo was presented a copy by 19 May with the original figure ballooning to N7.441 trillion, from the N7.28 trillion proposed by President Buhari.
President Buhari in his letter said he was “pleased by the joint resolution that the Executive would submit next year’s budget proposals by October 2017 and the National Assembly will conclude the Appropriation process by December 2017, so that the country can return to a normal fiscal period from next year onwards.”
The National Assembly members who witnessed the signing ceremony at the Vice President’s conference room included the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, Senator Danjuma Goje, among others.
Also at the ceremony are the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters (Senate), Ita Enang, Senator Phillip Aduda.
No comments:
Post a Comment