Buhari assures Nigerians that he feels their pains and hears their cries as he signs budget

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that he feels the pains and sufferings of most Nigerians in the face of the hostile economic conditions currently prevalent in the country as he signed the 2016 budget into law.

 

Yesterday, five months into the year, President Buhari finally approved the N6.06trn (£21bn) budget, which had been the subject of a lot of controversy lately. Over recent months, the budget had been passing back and forth between the National Assembly and the presidency, amid accusations of padding, illegal alteration and tampering by both politicians and civil servants.

 

Finally, however, the document was agreed and President Buhari appended his signature to it, making the budget law.  The budget he signed was N200m short of the N6.08bn the president presented to the National Assembly.

 

President Buhari said: ‎ “As I said in my New Year message, living in the State House does not in any way alienate me from your daily struggles. I read the newspapers and listen to the TV and radio news. I hear your cries and I share your pains.”

 

He added that the budget is intended to signpost a renewal of his government’s commitment to restoring the budget as a serious article of faith with the Nigerian people. While signing the document, President Buhari said it gave him great pleasure to sign the first full-year budget of this administration into law.

 

He said he would be speaking in more details about the budget, its implementation and the over-all national economic and social policies of the government in his address on May 29. He thanked the leadership of the National Assembly, in particular, the senate president and the speaker of the House of Representatives and indeed all members of the National Assembly for their cooperation in getting the budget ready.