Yemi Osinbajo, acting President, has signed the 2017 appropriation bill into law after a long wait. He appended his signature to budget at about 4pm in the presence of Abba Kyari, chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bukola Saraki, Senate president, Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the House of Representatives, ministers and other top government officials.
The total figure signed is put at N 7.44 trillion. Osinbajo said his signing of the budget was a milestone in the implementation of the economic and growth programme put in place by President Buhari in April. He said the process of putting the budget in place had been smoother than that of 2016 with no allegations of errors. “There were far few cases of acrimony unlike in the past. There is no doubt at all that our democracy is maturing very well,” he said.
The National Assembly had passed the 2017 Appropriations Bill on May 10 after raising it from the N7.28 trillion earlier proposed by President Buhari in December last year, to N7.44 trillion.