President Muhammadu Buhari signs 2016 Bills into Law

This assent has now given way for the full implementation of the budget.

The ceremony was witnessed by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.

While the President says that the budget must be able to work for the people, the Senate President said that with the signing of the budget, “what is important now is its implementation”.

The Budget Minister, Udo Udoma, said that the budget size was slightly lower than the figure the executive submitted.

What was eventually signed was 6.6 trillion Naira on the revenue assumption of $38 crude oil price.

Clean Copy Of The Budget

The President had in December 2015 submitted a proposal of 6.7 trillion Naira, of which, 351.3 billion Naira was earmarked for  statutory transfers.

One trillion, four hundred and seventy-five billion, three hundred and twenty million Naira was set aside for debt service while two trillion, six hundred and forty-eight billion, six hundred million Naira was earmarked for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure.

Friday’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.

Strategic Priority Programmes


The government announced on Thursday that 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.
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