President Buhari to sign off 2018 budget on Tuesday

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will sign the government’s long-delayed budget into law on Tuesday, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said on Friday.

In May, Nigeria’s parliament passed a record 9.12 trillion naira ($28.95 billion) budget for 2018 aimed at boosting growth eight months before the country’s next presidential election [nL5N1SN5Y6]. But it still needs to be returned to Buhari to be signed into law.

“We will sign it off on Tuesday,” Mohammed told Reuters on the sidelines of a visit to London.

The total sum laid out in the spending plan passed by the Senate is higher than the 8.6 trillion-naira budget presented to parliament by President Muhammadu Buhari in November.

Mohammed said he expected the delay would have little effect on government projects.

“Even once a budget is passed, there are still processes, due diligence to be done … this takes time.”

Reuters