Roundup: Nigerian leader finally signs "controversial" national budget into law

Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari finally assented to the country's 2016 national Appropriation Bill on Friday, nearly two months after the document was approved by the Senate on March 23.

The delay in signing the national document was caused by unusual claims and counter-claims by the executive and legislative arms of government that the budget had been "padded." "Padded" in this context meant some of the figures in the budget had been altered by some "unknown elements."

The hurly-burly over the padded document, which lingered for more than six weeks, began when the Nigerian Senate only forwarded the final breakdown of the budget to the president's office, 14 days after it was passed.

Buhari presented a 30.5 billion U.S. dollars budget proposal last December, calling for the support of the legislative arm of government for its quick passage. But after considering its conference report on the budget, the Nigerian Senate slashed the figure to 30.4 billion dollars, saying it did not approve the original 30.5 billion dollars presented by the president to show "discipline" on its own part and to reflect "the mood of the country and the world."

This is the first time the legislative arm of government cut down proposed figures of the national budget since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.

In essence, the delay in signing the budget was partly caused by the Nigerian leader's decision to critically review the 30.4 billion U.S dollars appropriation bill, particularly to ascertain that its content was intact and with the authentic budget proposal presented to the legislature, before appending his signature.

As days rolled by, Buhari looked at the bill that was passed by the National Assembly, ministry by ministry, to be sure that what was brought back for him to sign was in line with the original submission.

Still dissented by the level of padding in the appropriation bill, Buhari sent back the document to the National Assembly for proper "clean up," accusing some bureaucrats of "removing what was put in the proposal and replacing it with what they wanted."

A committee was formed thereafter to look into the grey areas and harmonize them in time for the president's assent. The National Assembly reportedly returned a "clean" copy of the budget to the president which he finally signed Friday.

News that the budget had been signed on Friday evoked feelings of good things to come among Nigerian netizens who took to various social media platforms to express their opinions about what is expected to happen in the shortest possible time.

Dayo Williams, a regular Facebook user, said it took too long, but better late than never. "It's an unusual budget: a departure from the past where a budget would be sent to the national assembly by the executive and returned same way to the latter. We are now in the implementation phase which is the most critical and crucial to the growth and development of the nation," he added.

He urged all rational citizens to make conscious efforts to keep the track of events as they unfold and fold, regarding what the government said it would do and the time frame.

"It's important to monitor the implementation stage because it is by it we can clinically assess the performance of the government and pass our informed verdict: either that of failure or success at the end of the fiscal year," he said, noting "in a literal sense, the budget is the economy which is our collect life. Every other thing is an offshoot of the economy."

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has said it would ensure full implementation of the newly signed national Appropriation Act, in order to achieve accelerated development in the country.

At an earlier press conference, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, told reporters in Abuja that the government has developed a blueprint to ensure full implementation of the national budget.

According to him, this is to ensure that the funds are efficiently utilized toward economic development.

The official said on the expenditure side, the government will take adequate measures to ensure the release of funds for the capital projects which will be properly monitored.

He disclosed that the crux of the national budget was targeted at import substitution and export promotion. Endit