Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has on Thursday in Abuja signed the 2021 budget of N13, 588, 027,886, 175 trillion (about $35.757bn) and the finance bill into law.
The budget, which was passed by the country’s National Assembly on December 21, 2020, has N4,125,149,354,222 trillion as capital expenditure and
N5,641,970,060,680 trillion as recurrent expenditure.
The budget provided N496,528,471,273 billion for statutory transfer, while N3.324 trillion was provided for debt servicing and a supplementary capital allocation of N1,060,751,051,650 trillion.
According to the provisions of the budget, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was projected at 3.00 percent.
President Buhari presented the proposed 2021 budget to the country’s National Assembly on October 8 and the lawmakers reviewed the budget upward from N13.082 trillion to N13.588 trillion, representing an increase of about N505 billion.
In a brief remark at the signing ceremony, Buhari said that the budget tagged ‘budget of economic recovery and resilience’ was critical for the legacy of the administration in ensuring security, economic growth, and implementing health and emergency measures to counter the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local media reports quoted Buhari as saying that the budget will address the challenges caused by the pandemic on the Nigerian economy.
President Buhari warned heads of revenue-generating agencies to remit generated revenues early and threatened sanctions for defaulters.
According to the Nigerian leader, specific borrowing plans will be forwarded to the National Assembly soon for their approval.
Some of the officials present at signing ceremony included Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha and Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed.
The Minister of the Finance, Budget and National Planning
will be giving the breakdown of the provisions of the budget at a later date. ($1=N380)
GIK/APA