ABUJA – Acting President Yemi Osinbajo Friday formally received the 2017 budget recently passed by the National Assembly.
Senior Media Aide to the Acting President, Laolu Akande, confirmed this via his Twitter handle in the afternoon.
“2017 Budget -Appropriations bill now officially received in the Acting President’s office & undergoing very prompt & diligent consideration,” he tweeted.
Speaking after presenting the budget, Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, pointedly said the Acting President would sign the budget once other processes are completed.
His words, “The budget as passed by the National Assembly has just been transmitted to the Acting President. I just delivered it.
“Let me use this opportunity to clarify an issue. The Acting President has the power to assent to the budget and he will assent to it when the processes are completed.
The Acting President has the power to assent to the budget. In February, he assented to 7 or 8 bills. Those that he didn’t agree with, he wrote the Senate and House of Representatives that he had withheld his assent from them.
“He has the power of the president to assent to it. But the assent to the Appropriation Bill will be after the completion of the standard operation process. The bill has 30 days within which it will be assented to but the process can be completed within two or three days.
So, it is not possible to say it will be assented to in so, so and so day or in two or three days. It’s upon the completipn of the process that it will be assented to by the president and the president here now is the acting president.
“However, it is not clear as at press time whether Mr Osinbajo would assent to the Appropriation Bill or send it to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is currently medical vacation abroad.”
Prompt News recalls that the National Assembly on May 11 passed N7.44 trillion 2017 budget after harmonisation by both Senate and the House of Representatives.
