JUST IN: Buhari Signs 2020 Budget Into Law

JUST IN: Buhari Signs 2020 Budget Into Law

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the N10.59 trillion 2020 Appropriation bill into law.

He disclosed this in a tweet via his Twitter official handle Tuesday afternoon.

“It is my pleasant duty, today, on my 77th birthday, to sign the 2020 Appropriation Bill into law,” he tweeted.

“I’m pleased that the National Assembly has expeditiously passed this Bill. Our Federal Budget is now restored to a January-December implementation cycle.”

The president signed the budget document in the presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, amongst other principal government officials.

President Muhammadu Buhari

The Senate and the House of Representatives had on December 5, 2019, concurrently passed the 2020 Appropriation Bill, raising the total estimates from the proposed N10.33 trillion to about N10.59 trillion.

The breakdown of the budget puts aggregate expenditure at N10.594 trillion, Statutory transfers at N560 billion, Debt service at N2.725 trillion, Recurrent Expenditure at N4.842 trillion, Capital Expenditure at N2.465 trillion, Fiscal Deficit at N2.28 trillion and Deficit/GDP at 1.52 per cent.

The lawmakers adopted a daily crude production rate of 2.18 million barrels, as proposed by the executive.

The Senate, however, adopted 57 dollars oil benchmark as against the executive proposal of 55 dollars.

The National Assembly had put a clause in the bill that the budget should run from January 1, 2020, bringing Nigeria back to a January-December budget cycle.