The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has commended the Senate for the passage of the 2019 budget and called for expeditious signing of the bill into law.
TBI Africa .com said Mr Muda Yusuf, the Director-General of LCCI, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
NAN reports that the Senate passed the 2019 Appropriation Bill of N8.916 trillion on April 30.
The budget is N86 billion higher than the proposal of N8.83 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly on Dec. 19, 2018.
A breakdown of the budget estimate reveals that the budget for statutory transfer is N502.58 billion, N2.25 trillion is for debt servicing, recurrent expenditure is N4.65 trillion, while N2.94 trillion is for capital expenditure.
Yusuf urged President Buhari to assent to the bill once it was transmitted to him by the National Assembly.
“We are aware that the President is not in the country, but we expect the bill to be signed into law immediately he returns to the country,” he said.
Yusuf said that areas that required review should be done fast, saying that the economy needed the budget as impetus to boost productivity, employment, and infrastructure development.
“We hope that as this administration starts its second term and the ninth Assembly resumes, we would return to a January to December budget cycle,” he said.
He said that January to December budget cycle would ensure stability, reduce uncertainty and boost investors’ confidence in budget implementation and performance.
