Buhari signs 2023 appropriation bill into law appending his signature to largest ever budget of $48bn

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has signed Nigeria's 2023 budget into law appending his signature to the bill passed by the National Assembly which set aside a sum of N21.83trn ($48.66bn) for expenditure during the course of this year.

By far Nigeria's biggest budget since independence, this sum is being spent as part of a programme to kick-start the economy. According to President Buhari, the aggregate expenditures of N21.83trn, represents an increase of N1.32trn over the initial executive proposal for a total expenditure of N20.51trn.

Apart from the budget, President Buhari also signed into law the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Bill, designed to make up for the shortfall in last year's budget. Funded through internal borrowing, this supplementary budget was recently passed by the National Assembly after it emerged that government revenue did not match initial projections,.

President Buhari directed the minister of finance, budget and national planning to engage with the legislature and revisit some of the changes made to the executive budget proposal. He expressed the hope that the National Assembly will cooperate with the executive arm of government in that regard.

Among other things, the president explained that the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act would enable the administration to respond to the havoc caused by the recent nationwide floods on infrastructure and agriculture sectors. As is customary, he said, the finance minister will subsequently provide more details of the approved budget and the supporting 2022 Finance Act.

President Buhari added: "We have examined the changes made by the National Assembly to the 2023 executive budget proposal. The amended fiscal framework for 2023 as approved by the National Assembly shows additional revenues of N765.79bn and an unfunded deficit of N553.46bn.

"It is clear that the National Assembly and the executive need to capture some of the proposed additional revenue sources in the fiscal framework. This must be rectified.

”I have also noted that the National Assembly introduced new projects into the 2023 budget proposal for which it has appropriated N770.72bn. The National Assembly also increased the provisions made by ministries, departments and agencies by N58.55bn.”

He said his decision to sign the 2023 Appropriation Bill into law as passed by the National Assembly was to enable its implementation commence without delay. This, President Buhari said was necessary considering the imminent transition process to another democratically elected government that will take place this year.