Nigeria says no rift over 2016 budget

There is no rift between the executive and legislative arm of Nigerian government over the passage of the 2016 budget, the government said Thursday.

"On the passage of the budget, I want to clear the misconception. There is absolutely no rift between the executive arm of government and legislative arm of government," Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said during a media tour in Abuja.

"It is not true that the president has refused to assent to the budget. The fact remains that it (budget) is not even before him," he said.

"The practice really is that when the budget is approved like that, there is what we call headline figure that is approved; then, it will take a few days for the National Assembly to throw up the details," the minister told reporters.

Mohammed said it was the original copy of budget that would be taken to the president after the necessary correction.

According to him, there was no setback in the budget, adding that the Ministry of Budget and National Planning was working closely with the National Assembly to ensure hitch-free passage of the budget.

The minister said the signing of the budget by President Muhammadu Buhari would reflate the economy and uplift millions of Nigerians out of abject poverty.

He said the budget would focus on infrastructure development, which would in turn create jobs for unemployed Nigerians, and wealth for workers in the construction industry.

The minister said there was provision for social intervention programs targeted at employing 500,000 graduates, who are to be trained as teachers and deployed to primary schools.

He said the programs also aimed at empowering 370,000 non-graduates such as artisans and technicians. Endit