Senate President Ahmad Lawan said that the National Assembly will on Thursday transmit the 2022 Appropriation Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari to sign it into law.
Lawan gave the hint on Wednesday in his remarks at the close of plenary.
The House of Representatives passed the Federal Government’s budget on Tuesday, while the Senate passed the appropriation bill on Wednesday.
Just as the House did earlier on Tuesday, the Senate raised the total estimates of the Federal Government’s budget from the proposed N16.391 trillion to N17.126 trillion.
The oil benchmark was raised from the proposed $57 per barrel to $62.
The Senate President stated that timely assent to the bill would ensure the commencement of its implementation by January next year.
Lawan added that businesses operating in the country, as well as the economy, stand to be impacted positively by the timely passage of the budget by the National Assembly.
Lawan said, “For the 2022 Appropriation Bill, we are expecting that the bill will be cleaned up between today (Tuesday) and tomorrow (Wednesday), and we hope that by tomorrow, the bill will be sent to Mr President for his assent. We are very optimistic that Mr President will assent to the bill as he did for 2020 and 2021, so that by January 2022, the implementation of the budget 2022 will commence by the grace of God.
“We have seen the benefits of passing and assenting to the budget in good time, especially when we had to fight COVID-19.
“The consequence of the implementation of the budget in 2021 and 2020 was very clear. For us to come out of the recession that we found ourselves in the previous period, we must have had the fortune of passing the budget and getting Mr President to sign in time.
“So, we believe that the economy of Nigeria, and Nigerian businesses especially, will continue to benefit from the passage of the appropriation bills in time and the assent by Mr. President, accordingly. We wish to make it clear that our desire is to provide legislations for the peace, order and good government of our country.”
