President Buhari has signed into law a N17.13 trillion appropriation bill for 2022, which is a new milestone. On December 31, he signed the law at the statehouse.
In addition, the president signed the 2021 financial bill into law.
President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, was present at the signing event, as were Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.
This comes less than a week after the appropriation bill was enacted by the House of Representatives and Senate. The budget spending was enhanced by N735.8 billion from the projected N16.391 trillion to N17.126 trillion by the two houses. They also increased the oil benchmark from the executive’s planned $57 per barrel to $62.
Oil output was set at 1.88 million barrels per day, the exchange rate at N410.15 to the dollar, GDP at 4.2 percent, and inflation at 13% by the National Assembly.
Buhari noted at the event that the 2022 Budget, which he recently signed into law, calls for total expenditures of N17.127 trillion, an increase of N735.85 billion over the initial Executive Proposal of N16.391 trillion. However, N186.53 billion of the increase came from new necessary expenditures that the president had authorized the minister of finance, budget, and national planning to present to the National Assembly.
‘‘The Minister will provide the public with the details of the budget as passed by the National Assembly, and signed into law by me,’’ he said.
He stated that the 2023 Budget will be a transition budget, and that work on the 2023-2025 medium-term expenditure framework and financial strategy paper, and also the 2023 appropriation bill, will begin immediately.
He instructed heads of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to work with the ministry of finance, budget, and national planning, specifically the federation’s budget office, to achieve this critical goal.
Source: NaijaOnPoint.com
