President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to sign the 2016 budget a week after the document was sent to him by the National Assembly, presidency officials said Tuesday, further delaying the implementation of a budget the government hopes will help Nigeria out of its present economic crisis.
A top presidency official said Mr. Buhari could not sign the budget because the passed budget had no details.
The official said almost a week after the National Assembly passed the 2016 Appropriation Bill, details of the approved Appropriation Bill were yet to be transmitted to the president.
The source said Mr. Buhari had been anxious to give assent to the Bill, but that he was concerned that signing the budget without details may give approval to an un-implementable spending plan.
“The president has not been able to sign the Bill into law because he does not know what is contained in the details and what adjustments the National Assembly made to the proposal sent to them last December,” the official said on Tuesday.
The source, who did not want his name disclosed as he was not authorised to comment on the issue in his official capacity, said the delay in transmitting the details could mean that the National Assembly either did not complete work on the budget, or were “playing politics” with the passage of the document.
He said the president was disappointed that his desire to see the immediate implementation of the provisions to ease the tension in the economy and polity would have to tarry a little longer till when the details were transmitted to him and the adjustments are found to be implementable.
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