Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday signed the 2019 Appropriation Bill of N8.92 trillion into law. The signing ceremony was held at the President’s office. The President was concerned at the reduction of budget by N 90 billion by the National Assembly. He felt the reduction in the budgetary allocations by the National Assembly would make it difficult for the government to implements its projects targeted at diversifying the economy. Buhari felt that it was necessary to engage with the leadership of the Ninth Assembly to steamroll the differences for the reduction in the allocation since it would affect the development works. Last year also, there was considerable delay in getting the Budget passed by the House, due to differences among various authorities. There were allegations that the 2018 budget has not been passed because some details required for its passage were not submitted. For instance, 2018 Budget submitted to the National Assembly was without details of some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). Some details contained in the budget were also inaccurate. The National Assembly criticized the MDAs for delaying the passage of the budget due to their Ill-preparedness to attend scheduled meetings and provide relevant information needed by the lawmakers to carry out their job of scrutinizing the proposals. The National Assembly normally invites the MDAs to appear before them to defend the President’s budget submissions.
