President Buhari afraid to sign 2016 budget.

The Presidency yesterday said that President
Muhammadu Buhari will not be able to sign the
2016 appropriation bill into law.
It was gathered that the inability of the president
to assent to the document is because of the failure
of the National Assembly to send details of the
budget as passed by both chambers last week.

While the Senate passed the budget of N6.06
trillion on Wednesday last week, the House of
Representatives passed the bill retaining the same
amount on Thursday before proceeding on an Easter
break.
A source close to the president confirmed that
Buhari had received the appropriation document,
but was constrained by the lapses on the part of
the lawmakers in transmitting the full details.
Buhari, according to the source, is afraid not to
make the mistake of signing a document that
contains figures not in line with the proposal made
by the government.
“The president has just received the transmission
of the Appropriation Bill (2016 Budget) from the
National Assembly and is very anxious to sign it
into law, but the National Assembly only sent in
the highlights without the details of the budget,”
the source said.
The source explained that “as a result, the
president has been handicapped in signing the Bill
because he does not know what is contained in the
details and what adjustments the National
Assembly must have made to the proposal sent to
them.”
According to the source, “Although he is anxious to
sign the document so that implementation of the
provisions could start immediately and ease the
tension in the economy and polity, the president
is afraid he may later discover, when the details
are sent, that what is contained therein is not
implementable.
“He wishes the National Assembly could send in
the details speedily so that it could be considered
for assent.
“Ministers are also eager that the budget be signed
so they could start implementing their
programmes, but they are unable to push the
president to sign what has been transmitted
because they also do not know what is contained in
the details.”
The source also noted that “the ministers are
particularly worried that the year is gradually aging
and the provision of the law in respect of spending
the previous year’s budget is not helping matters
because of the low capital provision for 2015.
“Because of the low provision made last year for
capital expenditure, spending 50 per cent of that
provision for the first half of this year will make no
impact on provision of infrastructure,” he said.
It was gathered that as it is, “the Budget Office
cannot also work on the budget for implementation
because it is the details, and not the highlights,
that they convert into implementable templates
for the respective ministries, departments and
agencies (MDAs).”
“This development confirms speculations that the
National Assembly either did not complete work on
the budget or are playing politics with the
documents which affects the life of both the
country and its citizens.
“The National Assembly may just have passed the
bill to pass the buck to the executive and escape
the wrath of the public which was gradually
suspecting it of sabotage,” it was learnt.
Meanwhile, Buhari will depart Abuja for
Washington DC today to join President Barack
Obama and 60 other world leaders and heads of
international organisations at the 4th Nuclear
Security Summit which opens tomorrow.
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the
President, Femi Adesina, in a statement said
Buhari, at plenary sessions of the summit which is
dedicated to reinforcing international commitment
to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, will
insist that while Nigeria will continue to sustain
that commitment, world powers must respect the
right of other countries to the peaceful use of
nuclear energy for development purposes.
The president is expected, at the event, to
reaffirm Nigeria’s stance that international efforts
to ensure greater security of nuclear materials
should maintain a balance between nuclear non-
proliferation obligations and the indisputable right
of Nigeria and other countries to harness nuclear
energy and technology for socio-economic
development.
It will be recalled that at a meeting with him in
Abuja earlier this month, Buhari told the Director-
General of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
Mr. Yukiya Amano, that the Federal Government
will welcome greater support from the agency for
Nigeria’s aspiration to begin the generation of
electricity with nuclear energy.
The delegation is made up of Governor Mohammed
Abubakar of Bauchi State, Governor Abdulfatah
Ahmed of Kwara State, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, the National Security
Adviser, Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd.) and
the Director-General of Nigeria’s Nuclear
Regulatory Agency, Prof. Lawrence Anikwe Dim. The
president is expected back to the country on
Sunday.