Buhari Praises Saraki & Dogara as he signs “budget of change”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has praised the leadership of the National Assembly, in particular, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and indeed all members of the National Assembly for their cooperation in making the 2016 budget a reality.

ABOVE: President Buhari signing the 2016 budget into law

Muhammadu buhari made the remark at the signing of the 2016 appropriation bill into law on Friday, may 6, 2016, in Abuja.

The prsident said the 2016 budget is intended to signpost a renewal of our commitment to restoring the budget as a serious article of faith with the Nigerian people. 

Terming the 2016 budget, aptly titled “Budget of Change’’, Buhari promised that his Administration will henceforth the annual appropriation bill present the budget to the National Assembly in time for the passage of the Act before the beginning of the fiscal year.

Stating that the government seeks to fulfill its own side of the social contract, Buhari stated the Budget he signed into law provides for aggregate expenditures of N6.06trn.

In his remarks at the signing of the 2016 appropriation bill into law, Buhari also stated:

“In designing the 2016 budget, we made a deliberate choice to pursue an expansionary fiscal policy despite the huge decline in government revenues from crude oil exports.”

The budget will be financed principally through foreign and domestic borrowings.  

The government plans to generate 3.38 trillion naira this year from non-oil sources, up 87 percent from 1.81 trillion in 2015. But, with the heavy reliance on oil sales, it is unclear how this will be achieved.

Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has said Nigeria is expected to post budget deficits for the next two to three years . In 2016, the deficit is seen at 2.2 trillion naira compared with a previously estimated 3 trillion.

Buhari however pledged that all borrowings will however be applied towards growth-enhancing capital expenditures.  

He also stated:

“The signing of the budget today will trigger concerted efforts to reflate the Nigerian economy, a key element of which is an immediate injection of N350bn into the economy by way of capital projects. To illustrate our renewed commitment to infrastructural development, the 2016 budget allocates over N200bn to road construction as against a paltry N18bn allocated for same purpose in the 2015 budget.

“Despite the current difficulties we will work extra-hard to achieve our revenue projections. Our revenue generating agencies are coming under better management and are being re-oriented. The implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is expected to contribute significantly to improving transparency over government revenues.

 “Our determined fight against corruption is resulting in improvements in the quality of public expenditure. The work of the Efficiency Unit, as well as other public financial management initiatives, are also contributing in this regard. The continuing efforts to reduce recurrent expenditures should hopefully free up more funds for capital expenditure in 2017 and beyond.

“We are working  night and day to diversify the economy so that we never again have to rely on one commodity to survive as a country. So that we can produce the food we eat, make our own textiles, produce most of the things we use. We intend to create the environment for our young peoples to be able to innovate and create jobs through technology.”

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