The 2017 Budget has been signed into law today by Nigeria’s Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, in the presence of the principal officers of the National Assembly and other top government officials.
The budget christened “Budget of Economic Recovery and Growth” has a revenue projection of N5.08trn and an aggregate expenditure of N7.44trn.
The projected fiscal deficit of N2.36trn is to be financed largely by borrowing.
Shortly after signing the document into law at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Osinbajo described the budget as an important milestone in the nation’s economic recovery and growth plan laid in April by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He commended the Ministry of Budget and National Planning for preparing a good document, and the National Assembly for the rancour-free manner in which it passed it.
Osinbajo however said he delayed the signing of the budget because of the disagreements the Executive had about the changes introduced to the document by the Legislature.
He said the Executive’s stance was that the changes affected some of the Federal Government’s priority programmes and would make implementation difficult or even impossible.
