JUST IN: Buhari signs 2019 Budget

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Abuja signed the 2019 Appropriation Bill of N8.92 trillion.

The president submitted the budget of N8.83trillion to the Senate but it was increased by about N90 billion by the Upper House, bringing the amount to N8.92trillion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the dignitaries who witnessed the ceremony at the mini-conference hall of the president include the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha and the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari also witnessed the signing of the budget.

Others at the event were the ministers of Finance, Zainab Ahmed; Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma; Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Sen. Danjuma Goje.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Sen. Ita Enang and his counterpart for the House of Representatives, Umar El-Yakub, were also at the event.

On June 6, 2018, Buhari signed the 2018 appropriation bill of N9.120 trillion into law.

Udoma said after the signing of the law that the budget would help the president to consolidate the achievements of previous budgets and deliver on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020.

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He expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the 2017 budget, which saw the N1.5 trillion implementation of capital projects during the 2017 fiscal year.

He said the government would work hard to recreate the same achievement and generate the revenues required to finance projects and programmes that would significantly improve the economy.

NAN also reports that during the signing of the 2018 bill, the president further noted, with dismay, the cuts made by the National Assembly to the bill he originally presented.

He said the legislature made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion.

The president said he only signed the bill because he did not want to further slow down the pace of recovery of Nigeria’s economy and further disclosed that he would send “a supplementary and/or amendment budget” to the National Assembly to rectify the critical issues he raised.