…Directs MDAs to provide monthly performance reports
President Bola Tinubu, in keeping with his avowed commitment to maintaining a timely, predictable, and efficient budget cycle, officially signed the 2024 Appropriations Bill into law at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
After spending the previous week on vacation in Lagos, Tinubu signed the N28.7 trillion budget document that had been previously passed by the National Assembly just hours after arriving in Abuja yesterday afternoon.
The Budget is N1.2 trillion more than what he proposed to the National Assembly during a joint session on November 29, 2023.
Speaking at the signing of the Bill, the President assured Nigerians that the implementation of the budget would be efficiently pursued and vigorously monitored, adding: “All the institutional mechanisms shall be held to account in ensuring diligent implementation”.
He said, “All MDA’s have been directed to take responsibility and provide monthly Budget Performance Reports to the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, which in turn shall ensure the veracity of such. The Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy shall hold regular reviews with the Economic Management Team and, in addition, I shall Chair periodic Economic Coordination Council meetings”.
The top priorities of the 2024 Budget of N28.7 trillion are Defence and Internal security, Job-creation, Macro-economic stability, Improved investment environment, Human capital development, Poverty reduction, and Social security.
The President emphasised the need to maintain the January-December implementation cycle, saying: “Our goal is to ensure that the Appropriation Act comes into effect on January 1, 2024”.
He also emphasised that his commitment to enhancing investment promotion while creating a rules-based society that favours no individual over the law begins with important reforms in the Nigerian Judiciary, the funding for which is captured in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
Some of the key estimates are Capital Expenditure, N10 trillion; Recurrent Expenditure, N8.8 trillion; Debt Service, N8.2 trillion, and Statutory Transfers, N1.7 trillion.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, were present at the signing.
Other senior government officials present at the brief ceremony include: Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, and National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
