President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday ended uncertainty over the fate of his administration’s eighth appropriation, signing the bill containing some unreconciled and frivolous estimates, as transmitted by the National Assembly, into law.
The President, thus, pushed the headache of reconciling lawmakers with the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, hoping that the parliament would “cooperate” with her.
He gave the need for timely implementation of his transition programmes as reason for the hasty assent.
The spending component of the 2023 Appropriation Law, the last in the life of the administration, was raised at the National Assembly by a whopping ?1.32 trillion (or 6.1 per cent) to ?21.83 trillion, a decision many thought would trigger extended bickering between the two arms of government.
But the President, without any drama, signed the bill into law on the morning of the first working day of the year, consolidating the Federal Government’s commitment to January-December budget cycle.
Many experts have described the timely presidential assent as a milestone in efforts to breathe fresh air into the economy, despite the document falling flat on the revenue side, with so many frivolous assumptions. Some people are worried that the document is as good as mere ritual and largely unimplementable.
While implementation of the new budget could kick off forthwith, as it has become a legal document, it will be recalled that the Senate had approved Buhari’s request for extension of the 2022 Appropriation Law implementation to the end of the first quarter of this year, to enable the President finish ongoing capital projects, many of which are 80 per cent completed.
The President also signed the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation, translating to ?819.5 billion in additional spending, earlier passed by the lawmakers.
