Acting president of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo has on Monday, June 12, signed the 2017 budget into law.

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The assent is coming Six months after it was presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Performing the presidential duty on Monday, Osinbajo said the seven point four trillion naira budget will play effective role towards the economic recovery and growth plan of the Buhari-led administration.

The conference room in the office of the Acting president at the Aso Rock villa was filled to capacity as principal officers of the two chambers of the National Assembly were joined by other senior government functionaries to witness the signing.

 The National Assembly had on Thursday, May 11 passed the 2017 Appropriation Bill of N7.441 trillion, which represents an increase of N143 billion from what was presented last December by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The increase in expenditure came with a significant increase in the benchmark crude oil price to $44.5 per barrel from the $42.5 per barrel proposed by the executive.

However, the National Assembly maintained the daily crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels, and exchange rate of N305 to $1 as proposed by the President.

Further details of the budget signed by the acting president, show that N2.1trillion representing 30% was allocated to capital expenditure, while 4.9trillion representing 70% was allocated to recurrent expenditure.

For the acting president, the document will sure help the country end recession in no time.

For the first time in the history of Nigeria a National budget would be signed by the acting president. The event would however douse the speculation on who would signed the budget.

Racall that few hours to the Budget signing ceremony, Senior Special Assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu released a statement which said that President Buhari backed the Acting President to sign the Budget, noting that it is in the interest of the nation's economy

 

Report by Nnabuchi