“But the reality is that we may not achieve this because we are starting late”, the minister told State House correspondents shortly after President Buhari signed the budget at the President Villa, Abuja.
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The rectified version of the 2016 budget has been finally handed over to the Presidency through the Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters Senate (Senator), Ita Enang.
“The Budget I have signed into law provides for aggregate expenditures of N6.06 trillion, ” he said.
Buhari said through the budget which details would be provided by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, the government seeks to fulfill its own side of the social contract.
He said with the signing of the budget by the President, things will kick off smoothly.
The budget, passed nearly halfway into the year, “will help but it is not the silver bullet that will solve our problems”, Bismarck Rewane, Chief Executive Officer of Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives Co., said by phone.
Nigeria will have to borrow 1.8 trillion naira from overseas and at home to help fund the budget, which has been delayed by several months and wrangling with parliament, if it goes ahead.
“This government is like no other”.
The most controversial budget in the history of democracy in Nigeria, was first riddled with mistakes and discrepancies in the original spending plan. So, as we are finishing with this budget, we are starting on 2017.
It would be recalled that the budget was laid before a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015.
He said, “Our journey here (signing of the budget) has been rather bumpy but I believe that that is not only in Nigeria”.
“The process will start early”.
Finance Minister Adeosun says government is blocking all loopholes, accusing the last administration of financial recklessness.
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The guideline would be disseminated to all ministries, departments and agencies, according to her, would be monitored and reported upon on a quarterly basis to FEC.
