President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2023 N21.83 trillion Appropriation Bill into law.

Recall Theliberationnews reported last week that the Senate President, Sen. Ahmed Lawan hinted that the president will append his signature to the budget on Tuesday (today).

In his address, Buhari explained that the budget records an increase of N1.32 trillion over the initial Executive Proposal for a total expenditure of N20.51 trillion as he called on the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to liaise with the national assembly and revisit some of the changes made to the executive budget proposal.

He expressed his optimism that the National Assembly will cooperate with the executive arm of government in that regard.

The President explained that the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act would enable the administration to respond to the havoc caused by the recent nationwide floods on infrastructure and agriculture sectors.

As is customary, he said, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning will subsequently provide more details of the approved budget and the supporting 2022 Finance Act.

According to him, ”We have examined the changes made by the National Assembly to the 2023 Executive Budget proposal.

”The amended fiscal framework for 2023 as approved by the National Assembly shows additional revenues of N765.79 billion, and an unfunded deficit of N553.46 billion.

”It is clear that the National Assembly and the executive need to capture some of the proposed additional revenue sources in the fiscal framework. This must be rectified.

”I have also noted that the National Assembly introduced new projects into the 2023 budget proposal for which it has appropriated N770.72 billion.

“The National Assembly also increased the provisions made by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) by N58.55 billion.”

President Buhari said his decision to sign the 2023 Appropriation Bill into law as passed by the National Assembly was to enable its implementation commence without delay, considering the imminent transition process to another democratically elected government.