President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law the 2022 Appropriation Bill and the 2021 Finance Bill worth N17.126 trillion, expressing concern over the alterations made by the National Assembly amounting to N735.85 billion over the initial expenditure proposed by the executive.

He assented to the bill at a ceremony in the president’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.

The president explained that he signed the budget to enable its implementation from January 1, announcing that he would send a supplementary budget to the lawmakers to right the wrongs.

However, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, maintained after the signing ceremony that the National Assembly was right in its judgment on what it did with the budget.

The bill provides for aggregate expenditures of N17.126 trillion, an increase of N735.85 billion over the initial executive proposal for a total expenditure of N16.391 trillion.

In his remark, the president explained that N186.53 billion of the increase however came from additional critical expenditures that he had authorised the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to forward to the National Assembly.

He recounted that during the presentation of the 2022 Appropriation Bill, he had stated that the fiscal year 2022 would be very crucial in his administration’s efforts to complete and put to use critical agenda projects, as well as improve the general living conditions of our people.

“It is in this regard that I must express my reservations about many of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the 2022 executive budget proposal,” he said

(Nigerian Tribune)