President Buhari signs 2018 budget

President Buhari signs 2018 budget

After much anticipation, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2018 appropriation bill into law on Wednesday, June 20.

The president assented to the bill at the presidential villa in Abuja few minutes after 12pm, according to a tweet from his official Twitter handle @MBuhari.

President Buhari signs 2018 budget
President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will work very hard to generate the revenues required to finance projects and programmes of the 2018 budget.

Speaking to the leadership of the National Assembly during the signing of the document, the president stated that notwithstanding the delay of the signing of the 2018 budget, he is determined to continue to work with the National Assembly towards improving the budgeting process and restoring our country to the January-December fiscal cycle.

He said: "I would like to thank the leadership of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as all the Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members, for passing the 2018 Appropriation Bill, after seven months.

"When I submitted the 2018 Budget proposals to the National Assembly on 7th November 2017, I had hoped that the usual legislative review process would be quick, so as to move Nigeria towards a predictable January-December financial year. The importance of this predictability cannot be overemphasized.

"While the Federal Government’s budget represents less than 10% of aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy, it has a very significant accelerator effect on the financial plans of other tiers of government, and even more importantly, the private sector, which mostly operates on a January-December financial year.

"Notwithstanding the delay this year, I am determined to continue to work with the National Assembly towards improving the budgeting process and restoring our country to the January-December fiscal cycle."

Legit.ng had reported that the president was under pressure to sign the N9.1 trillion 2018 budget to avoid a government shut down.

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A source within the government had stated that the president frowned at an excess of N500 billion in the N8.6 trillion proposal submitted to the National Assembly last November, adding that Buhari is focused on not bringing the machinery of the government to a standstill.

The president's assent to the document comes after the joint session of the National Assembly committee on appropriation, passed the 2018 Appropriation Bill.

The Senate increased the proposal of N8.612 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2017, to N9.120trn.

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In another report, the federal government is making final preparation to disburse $322 million fund repatriated from the accounts of former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha, in Switzerland to Nigerians.

Daily Trust reports that the the national coordinator of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Nigeria and special assistant to the President on justice reforms, Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu, disclosed this recently in an interactive session with newsmen.

Legit.ng gathered that Ibekeaku-Nwagwu said under MoU with Switzerland, the funds would be paid directly into the accounts of the poorest Nigerians through their various accounts for two years and identification numbers to be made available on the website being developed by the National Social Investment office and the World Bank.

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Source: Legit.ng

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