By Adedapo Adesanya
President Muhammadu Buhari has written to the National Assembly to extend the date for the implementation of the 2022 Budget to March 31, 2023.
The letter was read at the joint plenary by the Senate President, Mr Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajamiabila, on Wednesday, December 28.
The National Assembly had passed a revised budget of N17.31 trillion for the fiscal year 2022 following the president’s earlier request to make adjustments to the 2022 budget.
This is coming exactly a week after Mr Buhari wrote the lawmaking arm of the government to approve a supplementary budget of N819 billion as a result of the impact of the flood on the roads across the country.
Mr Buhari, however, on Wednesday, wrote to the lawmakers to extend the date of the implementation of the 2022 budget from December 31, 2022, to March 31, 2023.
“I write to request your consideration for an amendment into the 2022 Appropriation Acts expression clause 12, as passed and assented to,” he said.
The President wrote the lawmakers proposing to alter the part of the Act which he had earlier assented to, which gave the Appropriation Act a 12-month lifeline of January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022.
He wrote, “The 2022 Appropriation Act…in line with the provisions of Section 318 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…this Bill expires after 12 months, starting from January 1 to December 31, 2022, once assented to.”
“The proposed 2022 appropriation supplementary budget submitted to the National Assembly for consideration, as well as recent 2022 capital releases to MDAs, are likely to be utilised before December 31st, 2022, due to the late release of the funds, which will lapse if the capital implementation is not extended beyond December 2022.
“In the light of the above, the National Assembly is requested to amend the 2022 Acts expression clause to reflect March 31, 2023, for the capital components only,” the letter added.
Dipo Olowookere