News

Osinbajo, at last, signs 2017 N7.44trn budget

Published

9 years ago

June 12, 2017

After Buhari had given go ahead

The earlier indication by the Presidency that President Muhammadu Buhari has given the Acting President the go ahead to sign the 2017 Appropriation Act may have paved the way for Professor Yemi Osinbajo to sign the N7.44 trillion 2017 Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly penultimate week.

National Daily gathered that Acting President Osinbajo at exactly 4:42pm on Monday signed the 2017 Appropriation Act into law.

It was disclosed that assenting to the Appropriation Act at the Acting President’s Conference Room at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, was witnessed by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.

National Daily further gathered that order state actors present included the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, Senator Danjuma Goje, Acting Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly matters (Senate), Ita Enang, Senator Phillip Aduda, were also said to be present.

ALSO SEE: NASS complies with constitution: Sends 2017 Budget to Osinbajo

The budget described as budget of growth and recovery was passed by the National Assembly on May 11, raising the estimate to N7.44 trillion from the N7.28 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari in December 2016.

Earlier, Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media and Publicity, had stated that following the receipt of a full brief on the 2017 Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly, and to buttress the unity at the highest level of government, President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated that it is in the interest of the nation’s economy for the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to sign the Appropriation Bill into law.

“In a letter dated June 10, 2017, which he personally signed and addressed to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, the President also said he was “pleased by the joint resolution that the Executive would submit next year’s budget proposals by October 2017 and the National Assembly will conclude the Appropriation process by December 2017, so that the country can return to a normal fiscal period from next year onwards,” Shehu had declared.