President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, received the very important details of the 2016 Appropriation Bill from the National Assembly.
This came on the heels of the budget details submitted, on Wednesday, to the clerk of the National Assembly for onward transmission to the president by the chairmen of the Appropriations Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin respectively.
According to the Premium Times, the document was jointly delivered to the Presidential Villa by the Senior Special Assistants to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang and Kawu Sumaila, at about 12:05pm on Thursday.
The document was received by Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the President, who signed on behalf of the President in his office.
Also present to receive the document was the minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma.
After signing, they proceeded to present the document to the president and later returned it to the office of the Chief of Staff, where he is expected to transmit it to the relevant ministries for review.
Approached by journalists after he presented the document to the president, Mr. Enang confirmed that the document had finally been transmitted
“We have transmitted it to the office of the president and the constitutional process of timing starts,” he said.
The 2016 budget, submitted by the president on December 22, 2015 before a joint session of the National Assembly, was approved on March 23.
However, only highlights were transmitted to the president after the March 23 passage.
Mr. Buhari had also said he would not sign the budget in a hurry, but would critically review the document before assenting to it.
“Some bureaucrats removed what we put in the proposal and replaced it with what they wanted,” Mr. Buhari said.
“I have to look at the bill that has been passed by the National Assembly, ministry by ministry, to be sure that what has been brought back for me to sign is in line with our original submission.”
