PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday afternoon signed the 2013 Appropriation Bill into law, ahead of the Wednesday deadline issued by the National Assembly for the President sign the document or have it vetoed by the legislative body.
President Jonathan had presented a budget figure of N4.92 to a joint sitting of the two chambers of the National Assembly on October 10 of 2012.
Presidency had earlier refused to sign into law the 2013 budget over what it described as ‘padding’ of the budget by the National Assembly.
It remains unclear if the president signed the budget in spite of the so-called ‘gray areas’.
The Presidency and National Assembly had been at loggerheads on a number of issues relating to the budget, including oil benchmark, the zero allocation to the Security and exchange Commission, constituency projects and the additional N63billion that was inserted into the budget.
A statement by presidential spokesman Reuben Abati revealed that agreement was reached between the executive and legislature after consultations between the two parties.
“Following consultations and an agreement between the Executive and the Legislature on the 2013 Appropriation Bill, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan tuesday signed the bill into law,” the statement read, adding that the president gave his assurances that the country’s best interest guided his decision.
“President Jonathan wishes to reassure all Nigerians that the consultations have been in the best interest of the country, and in pursuit of understanding and mutual cooperation between both arms of government”.
“As part of the understanding reached with its leadership, the observations of the executive arm of government about the Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly will be further considered by the National Assembly through legislative action, to ensure effective and smooth implementation of the 2013 Appropriation Act in all aspects”.
“The administration remains fully committed to the positive transformation of the country, and effective and efficient service delivery for the benefit of all citizens”.
“All Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government have therefore been directed to work very hard to ensure that all the services, projects and programmes contained in the budget are successfully delivered on schedule in spite of the slight delay in its enactment”.