Buhari signs 2021 budget (Updated)

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2021 budget and the finance bill into law at the Council Chambers of the State House in Abuja.

This comes ten days after both chambers of the National Assembly passed the N13.5trn budget and three days after it was transmitted to the President for assent.

The President warned agencies of government saddled with generating revenue generation to work hard to meet their targets.

The President issued the warning after he signed the Thirteen-Point- Five- Eight-Eight trillion Naira (N13.588 trillion) 2021 Appropriation Bill and the 2020 Finance Bill into law.

“We are intensifying our domestic revenue mobilization efforts so that we can have adequate resources to fund the 2021 Budget.  Revenue Generating Agencies, and indeed all Ministries, Departments and Government-Owned Enterprises, must work very hard to achieve their revenue targets, control their cost-to-revenue ratios, as well as ensure prompt and full remittance of revenue collections.

“Relevant Agencies are to ensure the realization of our crude oil production and export targets.  Heads of defaulting Agencies are hereby warned that they will be severely sanctioned.  I also appeal to our fellow citizens and the business community, at large, to fulfil their tax obligations promptly,” said the President.

President Buhari expressed delight that despite disruptions occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic, 2020 Budget implementation passed previous thresholds.

“In spite of the adverse impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the nation’s economy and the Government’s revenues, we have made appreciable progress in the implementation of the 2020 Budget.  As at December 2020, we had released about One-point-Seven-Four-Eight Trillion Naira (N1.748 trillion) out of a total of the One-Point-Nine-Six-Two Trillion Naira (N1.962 trillion) voted for the implementation of critical capital projects, representing a performance of about Eight-Nine-Point-One Percent (89.1%).

“The overall performance of the 2020 Budget currently stands at an impressive rate of Ninety-Seven-point-Seven Percent (97.7%).  This commendable outcome underscores the importance of our efforts, together with the Legislature, to return to the discipline of a January-to-December fiscal year.  The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning will provide further details on the 2020 Budget’s performance, in due course,” he said.The President commended the National Assembly for completing “the important appropriation process in good time,” adding that “the passage of the 2021 Federal Budget before the commencement of the 2021 fiscal year is in confirmation of our resolve to maintain a predictable January-December fiscal year, as provided for in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

President Buhari presented the proposed 2021 budget to the National Assembly on October 8.

The National Assembly, while approving the proposal on December 21, raised the estimate of N13.082 trillion to N13.588 trillion.

This was an increase of N505 billion from the proposed figures presented by the executive.

The budget signing is to ensure a January to December budget calendar.

It is tagged the budget of economic recovery and resilience and, according to the president, is critical for the legacy of this administration in ensuring security, economic growth, and implementing health and emergency measures to counter the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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