At last, Buhari signs 2016 budget:
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday signed the 2016 Appropriation Bill into law ending weeks of face-off between the National Assembly and the Executive.
The budget was signed at a brief ceremony held inside the President’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Below is the full remarks made by President Muhammad Buhari at the signing of the budget:
President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2016 Budget today.
Please read his speech below.
"This Budget is intended to signpost a renewal of our commitment to restoring the budget as a serious article of faith with the Nigerian people.
This Administration is committed to ensuring that henceforth the annual appropriation bill is presented to the National Assembly in time for the passage of the Act before the beginning of the fiscal year.
Through the 2016 budget, aptly titled ‘Budget of change’, the government seeks to fulfill its own side of the social contract.
The Budget I am about to sign into law provides for aggregate expenditures of N6.06trn. Further details of the approved budget, as well as our Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016 budget, will be provided by the Honourable Minister of Budget & National Planning.
In designing the 2016 budget, we made a deliberate choice to pursue an expansionary fiscal policy despite the huge decline in government revenues from crude oil exports.
This is why we elected to enlarge the budget deficit at this time, to be financed principally through foreign and domestic borrowings. All borrowings will however be applied towards growth-enhancing capital expenditures.
The signing of the budget today, will trigger concerted efforts to reflate the Nigerian economy, a key element of which is an immediate injection of N350bn into the economy by way of capital projects.
To illustrate our renewed commitment to infrastructural development, the 2016 budget allocates over N200bn to road construction as against a paltry N18bn allocated for same purpose in the 2015 budget.
Despite the current difficulties, we will work extra -hard to achieve our revenue projections .
Our revenue generating agencies are coming under better management and being re-tooled.
The implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is expected to contribute significantly to improving transparency over government revenues.
Our determined fight against corruption is resulting in improvements in the quality of public expenditure. The work of the Efficiency Unit, as well as other public financial management initiatives, are also contributing in this regard. The continuing efforts to reduce recurrent expenditures should hopefully free up more funds for capital expenditure in 2017 and beyond.
As I said in my New Year message, living in the State House does not in any way alienate me from your daily struggles. I read the newspapers and listen to the news. I hear your cries. I feel your pains.
We are experiencing probably the toughest economic times in the history of our Nation. I want to commend the sacrifice, resilience and toughness of all Nigerians young and old who have despite the hardships continued to have hope and confidence of a great future for Nigerians.
But permit me to say that this government is also like none other. We are absolutely committed to changing the structure of the Nigerian economy once and for all.
We are working night and day to diversify the economy such that we never again have to rely on one commodity to survive as a country. So that we can produce the food we eat, make our own textiles, produce most of things we use.
We intend to create the environment for our young people to be able to innovate and create jobs through technology.
I cannot promise you that this will be an easy journey but in the interest of so much and so many we must tread this difficult path. I can assure you this government you have freely elected will work with honesty and dedication day and night to ensure that our country prospers and that the prosperity benefits all Nigerians.
God bless Federal the Republic of Nigeria."
Those who witnessed the event included Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun; and chairmen of the Appropriation Committees of both chambers of the National Assembly.
Others were the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang; and the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Sumaila Kawu.
The budget was signed at a brief ceremony held inside the President’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Below is the full remarks made by President Muhammad Buhari at the signing of the budget:
President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2016 Budget today.
Please read his speech below.
"This Budget is intended to signpost a renewal of our commitment to restoring the budget as a serious article of faith with the Nigerian people.
This Administration is committed to ensuring that henceforth the annual appropriation bill is presented to the National Assembly in time for the passage of the Act before the beginning of the fiscal year.
Through the 2016 budget, aptly titled ‘Budget of change’, the government seeks to fulfill its own side of the social contract.
The Budget I am about to sign into law provides for aggregate expenditures of N6.06trn. Further details of the approved budget, as well as our Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016 budget, will be provided by the Honourable Minister of Budget & National Planning.
In designing the 2016 budget, we made a deliberate choice to pursue an expansionary fiscal policy despite the huge decline in government revenues from crude oil exports.
This is why we elected to enlarge the budget deficit at this time, to be financed principally through foreign and domestic borrowings. All borrowings will however be applied towards growth-enhancing capital expenditures.
The signing of the budget today, will trigger concerted efforts to reflate the Nigerian economy, a key element of which is an immediate injection of N350bn into the economy by way of capital projects.
To illustrate our renewed commitment to infrastructural development, the 2016 budget allocates over N200bn to road construction as against a paltry N18bn allocated for same purpose in the 2015 budget.
Despite the current difficulties, we will work extra -hard to achieve our revenue projections .
Our revenue generating agencies are coming under better management and being re-tooled.
The implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is expected to contribute significantly to improving transparency over government revenues.
Our determined fight against corruption is resulting in improvements in the quality of public expenditure. The work of the Efficiency Unit, as well as other public financial management initiatives, are also contributing in this regard. The continuing efforts to reduce recurrent expenditures should hopefully free up more funds for capital expenditure in 2017 and beyond.
As I said in my New Year message, living in the State House does not in any way alienate me from your daily struggles. I read the newspapers and listen to the news. I hear your cries. I feel your pains.
We are experiencing probably the toughest economic times in the history of our Nation. I want to commend the sacrifice, resilience and toughness of all Nigerians young and old who have despite the hardships continued to have hope and confidence of a great future for Nigerians.
But permit me to say that this government is also like none other. We are absolutely committed to changing the structure of the Nigerian economy once and for all.
We are working night and day to diversify the economy such that we never again have to rely on one commodity to survive as a country. So that we can produce the food we eat, make our own textiles, produce most of things we use.
We intend to create the environment for our young people to be able to innovate and create jobs through technology.
I cannot promise you that this will be an easy journey but in the interest of so much and so many we must tread this difficult path. I can assure you this government you have freely elected will work with honesty and dedication day and night to ensure that our country prospers and that the prosperity benefits all Nigerians.
God bless Federal the Republic of Nigeria."
Others were the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang; and the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Sumaila Kawu.
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