President Buhari signs 2020 Budget

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2020 Appropriation bill into law.

The budget was sent to the President for his assent last week. This means Nigeria will operate a one-year budget cycle – from January to December 2020 – for the first time in 11-years. 

Announcing the signing of the 2020 budget, President Buhari on his Twitter account stated that, “It is my pleasant duty, today, on my 77th birthday, to sign the 2020 Appropriation Bill into law. I’m pleased that the National Assembly has expeditiously passed this Bill. Our Federal Budget is now restored to a January-December implementation cycle.” 

It is my pleasant duty, today, on my 77th birthday, to sign the 2020 Appropriation Bill into law. I’m pleased that the National Assembly has expeditiously passed this Bill. Our Federal Budget is now restored to a January-December implementation cycle.

— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) December 17, 2019

Nairametrics had reported that President Buhari would sign the Budget today, two months after he presented the bill before a joint session of the National Assembly. The 2020 budget was increased from N10.33 trillion as proposed by the executive to N10.6 trillion by the National Assembly.

The last time the Senate passed a budget before January was in 2008. But in recent years, the Senate has gradually reduced the time frame for consideration and passage of the budget. The passage of the 2017 and 2018 budget took six months each, while the 2019 budget was passed five months after President Buhari presented the appropriation bill in December 2018.

Details later …