President Muhammadu Buhari has backed the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, to assent the 2017 Budget in the interest of the nation.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in a statement on Monday that Buhari had indicated his approval for Osinbajo to sign the budget.
In the two-paragraph statement, Shehu said, “Following the receipt of a full brief on the 2017 Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly, and to buttress the unity at the highest level of government, President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated that it is in the interest of the nation’s economy for the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to sign the Appropriation Bill into law.
“In a letter dated June 10, 2017, which he personally signed and addressed to the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, the President also said he was “pleased by the joint resolution that the Executive would submit next year’s budget proposals by October 2017 and the National Assembly will conclude the Appropriation process by December 2017, so that the country can return to a normal fiscal period from next year onwards.”