Buhari to sign 2022 Appropriation Bill on Friday

President Muhammadu Buhari is to sign the 2022 Appropriation Bill on Friday.

His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed this to newsmen, in Abuja, yesterday.

According to him, the 2022 document has been transmitted to his principal, and he will sign the bill into law by 10:00 a.m.

This comes barely a week after both chambers of the National Assembly passed a budget of N17.126 trillion, increasing the benchmark price of crude from $57 to $62 per barrel and raising the total estimates from the proposed N16.391trillion to N17.126 trillion.

The federal legislature formally transmitted the 2022 Appropriation Bill to the President for assent. A communication from the Clerk to the National Assembly, Ojo Amos, to the Presidency, a copy of which was sighted yesterday, showed that the budget was transmitted on Friday and received by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President on Saturday.

The letter, with reference number, NASS/CNA/37/Vol.1/35, was addressed to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and titled ‘APPROPRIATION BILL, 2022.’

It reads: “In consonance with the provisions of the Acts Authentication Act Cap. A2, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, I wish, with due respect, to forward to Your Excellency, the authenticated copies of Appropriation Bill, 2022, for your consideration and assent.

“After Your Excellency’s assent, one copy of the signed bill should be retained in your office while the other two are to be returned for our further action, please. With my highest regards.”

The National Assembly has, from the 2020 budget, returned the country to a January-December budget cycle.

Buhari had signed the 2021 Appropriation Bill into law on January 1, 2021, while its life cycle is to expire on December 31, 2021, but for the recent extension of the lifespan of its capital component by three months by the National Assembly.