President Muhammadu Buhari  on Thursday, signed the 2021 Appropriation Bill into law.

 

The signing ceremony held inside the President’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

 

The National Assembly on December 21, 2020, passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill with a total expenditure of N13, 588, 027,886, 175.

 

The National Assembly last Monday passed the 2021 Appropriation Bill, raising the total estimates from the proposed N13.08trn to N13,588,027,886,175, an increase of over N500bn over the  amount proposed by the President.

 

Buhari presented the bill to a joint session of the National Assembly on  October 8, 2020.

 

Out of the total sum of N13.59tn for 2021, N496.53bn is for statutory transfers; N3.32tn is for debt service; N5.64tn is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure; while the sum of N4.13trn is for capital expenditure.

 

While statutory transfers totalling N496.53bn were approved, it was observed that the N125bn proposed for the National Assembly and its affiliates had been raised by N8.99bn, putting the new total estimates at N133.99bn.

 

Additionally, the National Assembly provided the sum of N3.32trn for debt servicing.

 

The lawmakers increased the budget estimate by the sum of N505, 607,317,942 from the estimate of N13, 082, 420, 568,233 presented to the joint sitting of National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

Those who witnessed the signing ceremony included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Senate President Ahmad Lawan; Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed.