BREAKING NEWS: President Buhari Finally Signs the 2016 National Budget

President Mohammadu Buhari has finally assented to the 2016 Appropriation Bill, giving way for full implementation of the budget.

Weeks after horse-trading between the presidency and the National Assembly over the controversial 2016 National Budget dubbed ‘Budget of Corruption’, President Muhammadu Buhari, has finally signed the budget into law.

The signing of the budget was done at 12:35pm, and witnessed by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker, House of Reps, Yakubu Dogara, Chairman of the APC, Chief John Oyegun, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Budget, Udo Udoma and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje and his counterpart in the House of Reps, Abdulmumuni Jibrin.

Today’s event comes after the National Assembly submitted a clean copy of the budget to the President. The President had withheld assent after some alterations were noticed in the document.

The government announced yesterday it had mapped out 34 strategic priority programmes and projects it intended to achieve with the 2016 budget.

These include a capital spend minimum of 30% annually, an appropriate and predictable exchange regime by the end of 2016, increased low interest lending rate of 9%, self-sufficiency in tomato paste in 2016 and rice production by 2018.

It also plans to increase local production of maize, soya beans, poultry and livestock and to stop import.

Recall that the budget was laid before a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.