Buhari finally signs $30 bn budget

Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari on Friday finally signed into law the 2016 Appropriation Bill five months after he presented it to the legislature.

The signing gives way for full implementation of the budget which is estimated at 6 trillion naira ($30 billion.)

The signing took place at the presidential villa, Abuja, Vanguard online reports.

The Signing #budget2016 pic.twitter.com/ug2WLpK6zB

— President Buhari (@NGRPresident) May 6, 2016

The 2016 budget was laid before a joint session of the National Assembly in December, 2015.

Work on the document began shortly after the Christmas break upon the resumption of the National Assembly.

Arguments and counter-arguments had ensued between the presidency and the National Assembly following the controversial “padding” of the budget against the wishes of president Buhari.

In April, the National Assembly had transmitted details of the budget to the president after it had passed the bill on March 23.

But president Buhari returned the document to the house on the grounds that there were “grey areas” in it that needed to be sorted out.

In December, the budget proposal presented to a joint session of the assembly by Buhari was N6.07 trillion (about $30 billion). A total of N357 billion was for statutory transfers, N2.8 trillion for recurrent expenditure and N1.8 trillion for capital expenditure.

The legislature based on the recommendation of its committees on appropriation, adopted $38 per barrel crude oil benchmark for the budget; as proposed by the federal government. It also adopted a foreign exchange rates of N197 per dollar as proposed by the government.