Barring last minutes changes, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will sign the 2023 Appropriation Bill into law next Tuesday, as part of his first official assignments in the new year. This is expected to be the last Appropriation Bill the President will sign before leaving office in May 2023.
The Senate President Ahmed Lawan who gave the hint on Friday after a closed-door meeting at the State House, Abuja, noted that both chambers of the National Assembly only passed the bill on Wednesday December 28, for the President’s assent.
“We are looking forward to Mr. President signing the Appropriation Bill 2023, by the grace of God, on Tuesday…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,” Lawan said.
The National Assembly has also extended the capital implementation period of the 2022 Appropriation Act to March 31, 2023 following a request by the President, citing amongst other reasons, late capital releases to Ministries, Departments and Agencies, which may not be fully utilized at the constitutional expiration period of December 31st.
Section 318 of the 1999 constitution stipulates 12 calendar months for the implementation of the budget in any fiscal year and the 2022 Appropriation Act which took effect in January ought to have elapsed Saturday.
“The proposed 2022 appropriation supplementary budget submitted to National Assembly for consideration as well as recent 2022 capital releases to MDAs are likely to be utilized before December, 31st, 2022 due to the late release of the funds which will lapse if the capital implementation is not extended beyond December, 2022.
“In the light of the above, the National Assembly is requested to amend the 2022 Acts expression clause to reflect March 31, 2023 for the capital components only,” President Buhari’s letter to the National Assembly read.
Timeline on Buhari’s assent to appropriation bills in the last seven years
Since assuming office on May 29, 2015, President Buhari has signed a total of seven appropriation bills to law and part of his second-term ambition was to return the budget cycle to January- December fiscal year.
President Buhari signed the first Appropriation Bill (N6.06 trillion) after his assumption of office on May 6, 2016, while his Vice Yemi Osinbajo, acting as President, signed the N7.4 trillion 2017 Appropriation Bill on June 12, 2017 while Buhari was away on medical vacation in London.
On June 20, 2018, President Buhari assented to the 2018 Appropriation Bill of N9.12 trillion, while those of 2019 and 2020 were signed on May 27, 2019 and December 17, 2019, respectively. However, the 2019 Appropriation Bill was later revised from N10.59 trillion to N10.8 trillion which was signed by President Buhari on July 10, 2020.
In keeping with his goal to return the country to the January- December budget cycle, the President also timely signed the 2021 and 2022 Appropriation Bills on 31st December 2021 and 2022 respectively.
It is therefore expected that the President will assent to the 2023 budget on Tuesday, which is already a few days late, judging by the timeline for the last three years.