President Muhammadu Buhari Monday signed the 2019 Appropriation Bill into law.Speaking at the signing of the estimates at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the president said the increase of the appropriation from N8.83 trillion to N8.92 trillion by the National Assembly would make implementation difficult.
“We submitted the budget of N8.83 trillion in December, however the 2019 appropriation bill I am signing today, there is an increase of N90.33 billion, making it a total of N8.92 trillion. This is as a result of some of the increases and reductions in the National Assembly.“Some of these changes will make it difficult for us to implement our projects and policies. Although I am signing today, I will continue to engage the National Assembly as regards budget implementation. We will make effort to speed up budget preparation, presentation and process,” he said.The president said he would continue to engage the leadership of the National Assembly on issues relating to operations of the executive arm of government.
Those who attended the signing ceremony are the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara; Deputy Senate President, Mr Ike Ekweremadu; chairman of Senate Committee on Appropriation, Mr Danjuma Goje; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha; and the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Abba Kyari.
Others are Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed; Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma; Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefuele; and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Mr Ita Enang , among others.
