Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, signed the country’s 2021 Appropriation Bill and 2020 Finance Bill into laws, on Thursday.
The latest move will ensure the continuation of the January-December cycle as its implementation will kick into effect as from January 1, 2021.
Regarding the accenting of the N13.59tn national budget, Buhari said he was aware of the changes the National Assembly made to the initial proposal he put before them.
He said his administration would examine the changes and approach the lawmakers with a request for amendment, virement or other appropriate adjustments, where necessary.
President Buhari signed the document at a brief ceremony held at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The signing was witnessed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; leaders of the National Assembly and federal executive council members.
The appropriation bill was passed last Monday by The National Assembly.
This raised the total predictions, from the proposed N13.08tn to N13.59tn, marking an increase of over N500bn.
“The 2021 Budget that I have just signed into law provides for aggregate expenditures of N13.58tn, representing an increase of N505.61bn over the initial executive proposal,” Buhari said.
“The increase, however, includes the N365bn provision for upscaling the Nigeria Social Investment Programme, which I requested for after laying the budget before the legislature.
“The details of the budget as passed by the National Assembly, and signed into law by me, will be provided by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, subsequently.
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“In designing the 2021 budget, we deliberately chose to pursue an expansionary fiscal policy. As you are all aware, our economy recently lapsed into its second recession in four years.
“I mentioned during the presentation of the 2021 Appropriation Bill that we intend to use the budget to accelerate our economic recovery process, promote social inclusion and strengthen the resilience of the economy.
“All ministers are to ensure that their supervised ministries, departments and agencies achieve the objectives set for their sectors.
“I am aware of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the 2021 Executive Budget proposal.
“We will examine these amendments and, where necessary, I will revert to the National Assembly with a request for amendment, virement or other appropriate adjustments to ensure that the core objectives of the budget are accomplished.”
“As at December 2020, we had released about N1.75tn out of a total of the N1.96tn voted for the implementation of critical capital projects, representing a performance of about 89.1 per cent,” the President stated.