President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday signed the 2021 budget and the finance bill into law at the Council Chambers of the State House in Abuja.
This comes ten days after both chambers of the National Assembly passed the N13.5trn budget and three days after it was transmitted to the President for assent.
President Buhari presented the proposed 2021 budget to the National Assembly on October 8.
The National Assembly, while approving the proposal on December 21, raised the estimate of N13.082 trillion to N13.588 trillion.
This was an increase of N505 billion from the proposed figures presented by the Buhari administration.
The budget signing is to ensure a January to December budget calendar.
It is tagged the budget of economic recovery and resilience and, according to the president, is critical for the legacy of this administration in ensuring security, economic growth, and implementing health and emergency measures to counter the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president also promised that the budget will address the challenges caused by the pandemic on the economy.
On revenue generation, President Buhari warned heads of revenue-generating agencies to remit early and threatened sanctions for defaulters.
Borrowing for Budget
President Buhari on Thursday announced that specific borrowing plans will be forwarded to the national assembly soon.
After the signing ceremony, Channels Television questioned the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, on the use of over N3 trillion to service debts and his thoughts on more loan requests from the president.
In response, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Fem Gbahabiamila, both urged Nigerians to focus on what the loans are used for.
They both stated that borrowing is a natural option when revenue is low and assured Nigerians that the National Assembly will ensure all monies borrowed must be used for the capital projects they are slated for.
