Buhari finally signs 2019 budget into law and is due to unveil it in Abuja tomorrow

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will finally sign Nigeria's 2019 budget into law today after five months of delay due to constant disagreements between the executive and the National Assembly.

Barring any last-minute changes, President Buhari will give his assent to the 2019 Appropriation Bill, making it law and signalling the official commencement of the 2019 fiscal budget. According to an official from the Budget Office of the Federation, the signed budget would be made available during a public presentation tomorrow by the minister of budget and national planning, Senator Udo Udoma.

President Buhari had presented the budget on December 18, 2018 on the floor of the National Assembly but a number of factors including the Christmas and New Year breaks as well as the general election affected the quick passage of the appropriation bill. Then, disagreements over the contents also led to disagreements, which caused further delays.

When the bill was presented by the President to the National Assembly, the sum of N8.83tn ($24.27bn) was proposed, made up of N4.04tn for recurrent expenditure, N2.03tn for capital expenditure and N2.14tn for debt servicing. However, after undergoing legislative scrutiny, on April 30, lawmakers passed the 2019 budget of N8.91tn, ($24.44bn),raising it by over N90.3bn.

Highlights of the 2019 budget as approved by the National Assembly include the capital expenditure of N2.09tn, recurrent expenditure of N4.05tn, statutory transfers of N502bn, fiscal deficit of N1.9tn, and special intervention of N500bn. Lawmakers approved debt servicing of N2.25tn, with N1.7tn approved for domestic debts, while N433bn was provided for foreign debts.

Also, the sum of N110bn was approved for a sinking fund to retire maturing debt obligations. With President Buhari happy with all these provisions, the budget is expected to be formally presented tomorrow.