Buhari signs N21.83trn 2023 budget

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the N21.83 trillion 2023 Appropriation Bill into law.

The President, during a brief signing ceremony inside the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, had senior government officials present.

President Buhari received the Bill, which was passed by both the Senate and House Representative last week, from his Senior Special Assistants on National Assembly Matters, Senator Jide Omoworare (Senate), and Nasiru Ila (House of Representatives).

President Buhari said the implementation of the 2023 budget would commence without delay.

He charged the National Assembly to consider the re-visiting the changes made to the proposal by the lawmakers.

He, however, directed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to engage with the Legislature to revisit some of the changes made to the Executive budget proposal.

The President said: “It is my hope that we will receive cooperation in this regard from the National Assembly.

On 7 October 2022, President Buhari had presented the 2023 fiscal budget to the joint session of the National Assembly, where he proposed an annual budget of N20.51 trillion for the year 2023, a 19.8% increase when compared to the N17.13 trillion approved for 2022 including the supplementary budget.  

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, had last week explained the delay of the the passage of the appropriation was due to some anomalous figures presented by the executive to the legislature for consideration.

Senior members of government who joined him at the signing were the Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Speaker House of Representative, Femi Gbajabiamila, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Assembly, Zainab Ahmed, Minister of state Budget and National Assembly, Clem Agba, Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze and staff of the budget office.