Buhari signs 2022 budget into law bringing back the January to December fiscal cycle

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2022 Appropriation Bill with aggregate expenditure of N17.127trn ($41.55bn) into law making next year's budget official and bringing back the historical January to December fiscal year.

Having already been passed by the National Assembly, with this presidential assent, the budget is now operational, meaning that all government spending in 2022 will come from official budgeting. Ministers said that with the signing of the bill today, President Buhari  has restored a predictable January to December fiscal year provided for in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

President Buhari signed the documents in the presence of senate president Ahmed Lawan, House of Representatives speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila and Federal Executive Council members. He said the budget provides for aggregate expenditure of N17.127trn, representing an increase of N735.85bn over the initial executive proposal for a total expenditure of N16.391trn.

According to President Buhari,  N186.53bn of the increase came from additional critical expenditures authorised by the finance minister. He added that work will start in earnest to ensure early submission of the 2023-2025 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper and 2023 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly.

President Buhari, however, expressed strong reservations about the worrisome changes made by the National Assembly to the 2022 budget proposal. He announced that he would revert to lawmakers with a request for an amendment to ensure that ongoing projects cardinal to his administration do not suffer a setback due to reduced funding.

In addition, the president complained about the increase in projected federal government independent revenue by N400bn, the justification for which is yet to be provided to the executive. He lamented the reduction in the provision for sinking funds to retire maturing bonds by N22bn without any explanation.

President Buhari mentioned the slash of the provisions for the non-regular allowances of the Nigerian Police Force and the Nigerian Navy by N15bn and N5bn respectively. "This is particularly worrisome because personnel cost provisions are based on agencies’ nominal roll and approved salaries/allowances.

"Furthermore, an increase of N21.72bn in the overhead budgets of some ministries, departments and agencies (MDA), while the sum of N1.96bn was cut from the provision for some MDAs without apparent justification. There was also an increase in the provision for capital spending (excluding capital share in statutory transfer) by a net amount of N575.63bn, from N4.89trn to N5.47trn."

President Buhari also expressed concern about the reductions in provisions for some critical projects, including N12.6bn in the ministry of transport’s budget for the ongoing rail modernisation project. He declared he was surprised that despite the lawmakers’ increase of projected revenue by N609.27bn, the additional executive request of N186.53bn for critical expenditure items could not be accommodated without increasing the deficit.