By Nse Anthony-Uko
(Sundiata Post) – President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill into law.
The President assented to the bill on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
President Buhari took to his official twitter handle @MBuhari to announce the signing of the 2018 Appropriation Bill into an Act thereby ending the protracted delay.
He tweeted , “A few minutes past noon today, I signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill into Law. #Budget2018”.
He signed the budget in company with the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, as well as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Abba Kyari.
Some of the ministers who witnessed the signing are Senator Udo
Udoma (Budget and National Planning), Mr Lai Mohammed (Information and Culture), and Mrs Kemi Adeosun (Finance).
President Buhari had submitted a budget proposal of N8.612 trillion to the National Assembly on November 7, 2017.
The lawmakers, however, increased the proposal by N508 billion to N9.12 trillion, when they passed the Appropriation Bill on May 16, 2018 – six months after it was presented.
The President however, raised concerns over some of the changes made by the National Assembly in the budget.
Buhari regretted that the federal lawmakers made reductions amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billon, according to Punch.
Buhari wrote, “I am however concerned about some of the changes @nassnigeria has made to the budget proposals I presented.
“The logic behind the constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that, it is the Executive that knows & defines its policies & projects.
“Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. The National Assembly made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion.
“As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.”
