Tinubu signed the N28.78tr 2024 Budget into law surrounded by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas.
By Emma Ogbuehi
President Bola Tinubu has signed the N28.78 trillion 2024 Budget into law at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Tinubu, who arrived his office from the airport at exactly 2pm, headed straight for the brief budget signing ceremony, surrounded by senior government officials.
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Among those with the President while he signed the budget were the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, were on hand as well.
Also on ground were the Chief of Staff to the President, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Ganduje; Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Senator Olamilekan Adeola, among others.
Tinubu signed the budget after he arrived Abuja from Lagos where he spent the past week holidaying.
The 2024 budget is N1.2 trillion higher than the budget he proposed to a joint session of the National Assembly on November 29, 2023.
Then, the President had pegged the budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year at N9.18 trillion.
He stated, “The N9.18 trillion deficit is lower than the N13.78 trillion deficit recorded in 2023 which represents 6.11 per cent of GDP.
“The deficit will be financed by new borrowings totaling N7.83 trillion, N298.49 billion from privatisation proceeds and N1.05 trillion drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans secured for specific development projects.”
He also emphasized the need to maintain the January-December implementation cycle saying “Our goal is to ensure that the Appropriation Act comes into effect on January 1, 2024,”
However, on Friday, December 29, 2023, the Senate increased the 2024 budget by N1.2 trillion, moving the budget from N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion.
According to the report submitted by the Appropriation Committee led by Senator Solomon Adeola, aggregate expenditure was pegged at N28,777,404.073.861; statutory transfers at N1,742,786,788,150; recurrent expenditure at N8,768.5330,852; capital expenditure at N9,995,143,298,028 and GDP at 3.88 per cent.
