Abuja: 2023 appropriation bill is set to be signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.
State House correspondents report that Senate President Ahmed Lawan made this known yesterday at the end of his meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa.
The President’s recent additional loan requests, the legislature’s support to the Independent National Electoral Commission ahead of the general elections and the 2023 appropriate bill were among the things that topped his discussion with the president.
“We are looking forward to Mr. President signing the Appropriation Bill 2023, by the grace of God, on Tuesday. This because we signed the documents yesterday, having lost some time because of some anomalous figures we had in the bill presented to the National Assembly” He said,
“But thank God, the National Assembly in both chambers have passed the Appropriation Bill 2023 on Wednesday, and I’m sure that Mr. President and his team, on the executive side will work on what we have done. And the first thing on Tuesday, the first official working day of the year, I believe that Mr. President will be signing the Appropriation Bill 2023.”
He however regretted that the bill would have been passed a week earlier by the national assembly had it not been for irregularities realized in the bill.
Lawan further remarked that; “We are very pleased that we have been able to, in the last four years, ensure the passage of the appropriation bills in record time before every Christmas, and Mr. President had always signed before the end of the year.
“This year, particularly, is because of the anomalous, very undesirable and unfortunate situation that we had to delay a little bit.
“You will recall that the National Assembly had to cut down its Christmas recess to come back on Wednesday for the sole purpose of passing the appropriation bill which we could have passed a week before so all the same. There’s nothing that we missed.”
Lawan expressed his happiness as a result of the cordial working relationship established between the executive and the legislature which has regularized the signing of the appropriation bills since 2018 resulting in a “predictable January to December budget for our country.”
According to him, this pattern set by the federal government has trickled down to the states most of whom now pass their appropriation bills and assent to them before the new year.
Gov. Ganduje passes N268bn budget into law
In a similar story, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State on Thursday signed N268 billion 2023 appropriation bill into law.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor in November presented N245 billion to the State House of Assembly for approval.
Speaking shortly after signing the document, Gov. Ganduje said the budget was reviewed upward to N268 billion by the legislators to cater for social and economic development of the state.
Ganduje remarked that the budget was designed to expedite completion of the ongoing projects and initiate new ones.
While commending the cordial relationship the executive has with the legislature Gov. Ganduje reiterate his unwavering commitment to implement the budget in accordance with the law.
In his remark the Speaker, Alhaji Hamisu Chidari explained that the House had reviewed the budget upward by about N23 billion.
“We had interactions with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and also had public hearing where we collected so many inputs which attracted more money to the tune of N23 billion,” he said. (NAN)
2023 Elections: Tinubu Meets Wike’s Camps To Seal Deal
in another story, with less than two months to 2023 general elections five aggrieved governors of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party are set to meet with Bola Ahmed Tinubu seal deal on the 2023 presidency.
Refusing to give detail of the date and venue, a source close to the former Lagos State governor and the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Party (APC), stated that any last-minute change, the meeting is scheduled to be held in any of the European countries this week.
The source, further confirmed that the meeting is meant to cement their agreement on the 2023 presidency with the governors.