Osinbajo Signs 2017 Budget Into Law 7 Months After Presentation By PMB
BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – Seven months after President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2017 Appropriation Bill to the Joint Session of the National Assembly, and its passage in May, this year’s Budget was on Monday, June 12 signed into law by Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
The Appropriation Bill signing has therefore put paid to speculations that the budget was being kept for the arrival of President Buhari from his London medical vacation.
Forefront however gathered that some observations by the presidency with regards to allocations to some MDAs in the Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly and the need to correct them led to the delay in signing it into law.
In processing the Appropriation Bill, the National Assembly jerked the budgetary proposals from N7.28 trillion presented to it by President Buhari to about N7.44 trillion.
However, in the heat of speculations over the delay in presidential assent, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Dogara had last week doused the anxiety among Nigerians with assurances that the budget would be signed into law this week to end the severe financial squeeze being experienced across the country.
President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senate Majority Leader, Ahmed Lawan, Senator Danjuma Goje, Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari were among those that witnessed the 2017 Budget signing ceremony by the Acting President.
Others include Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, and Senator Phillip Aduda (FCT).
