President Muhammadu Buhari will not sign the 2016 Appropriation Bill into law until the National Assembly makes the details of the budget available to him, a top government official has said.
The Senate is currently on Easter break while Buhari will be travelling to Washington, United States, for the Nuclear Security Summit on Wednesday and scheduled to return to the country during the weekend.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told journalists on Tuesday that Buhari was handicapped as far as signing the bill was concerned because the President did not know what was contained in the bill.
He added that the President was in the dark as regards the adjustments the National Assembly had made to the proposal he sent to the federal lawmakers.
The source added, “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.
“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, he is afraid he may later discover, when the details are sent, that what is contained therein is not implementable.
“He wishes that the National Assembly could send 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.
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