President Bola Tinubu on Monday signed the N28.7 trillion 2024 Budget into law at a brief ceremony at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Those present at the ceremony were the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Abubakar; the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu among others.
Tinubu signed the budget hours after he arrived in Abuja from Lagos where he spent the past week holidaying.
The 2024 budget is N1.2 trillion higher than the proposed budget with statutory transfers at N1,74trillion, recurrent expenditure at N8,76trillion and capital expenditure at N9,99trillion and GDP at 3.88 per cent.
In the meantime,President Bola Tinubu wants Nigerians to know that he is not oblivious of the economic struggles of average Nigerians occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy and rising inflation.
In his New Year broadcast today, he said the country would come out of this current challenging situation with equal resolution from the citizenry to become better stakeholders in the Nigeria project.
The President however defended his economic reforms, especially the removal of fuel subsidy and reforms of the foreign exchange rates, noting that it was intended to save Nigeria from fiscal catastrophe.
“Over the past seven months of our administration, I have taken some difficult and yet necessary decisions to save our country from fiscal catastrophe. One of those decisions was the removal of fuel subsidy which had become an unsustainable financial burden on our country for more than four decades. Another was the removal of the chokehold of few people on our foreign exchange system that benefited only the rich and the most powerful among us. Without doubt, these two decisions brought some discomfort to individuals, families and businesses,” Tinubu said.
He added, “I am well aware that for some time now the conversations and debates have centred on the rising cost of living, high inflation which is now above 28% and the unacceptable high under-employment rate.”
The president said his government would work diligently to make sure every Nigerian feels the impact of their government.
