President Buhari signs ₦21.8 trillion 2023 budget

By Bukola Hameed

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the N21.83 trillion 2023 Appropriation Bill into law.

Buhari signed the 2023 transition budget Tuesday morning at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in the presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Ahmed Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and other members of the Federal Executive Council.

This development comes six days after the National Assembly passed the bill, which represents an increase of N1.32 trillion from the N20.51 trillion budget proposal of Buhari.

A breakdown of the budget indicates an allocation of N967.5 billion for statutory transfers, N6.6 trillion for debt servicing, N8.3 trillion for recurrent expenditure, and N5.9 trillion for capital expenditure.

The 2023 budget of N21.83 trillion maintained the recurrent expenditure at approximately N8.27 trillion, while capital expenditure increased from N5.35 trillion to N5.9 trillion and debt servicing also increased from N6.31 trillion to N6.6 trillion.

Some key capital allocations include the N285 billion to the Federal Ministry of Defence, N134.9 billion to the Federal Ministry of Health, N195.5 billion to the Federal Ministry of Power and N153.7 billion to the Federal Ministry of Education.

Speaking at the event, the President said his regime would speed up critical infrastructure projects nationwide as it raced toward the finish line on May 29, 2023.

He noted that the budget is N21.83 trillion aggregate expenditure, an increase N1.32 trillion over the initial executive proposal of N20.51 trillion.