I won’t sign 2016 budget, unless… – Buhari

LAGOS — President Muhammadu Buhari
said, yesterday, in the United States that
he would not sign the 2016
Appropriation Bill, passed into law by the
National Assembly, last week, unless he
critically reviewed it.US Secretary of State John Kerry and
Nigerian President Muhammadu
Buhari a meeting on the sidelines of
the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit at
the Washington Convention Center in
Washington, DC, March 31, 2016. / AFP
US Secretary of State John Kerry and
Nigerian President Muhammadu
Buhari
I won't sign 2016 budget, unless… –
Buhari
LAGOS — President Muhammadu Buhari
said, yesterday, in the United States that
he would not sign the 2016
Appropriation Bill, passed into law by the
National Assembly, last week, unless he
critically reviewed it.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and
Nigerian President Muhammadu
Buhari a meeting on the sidelines of
the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit at
the Washington Convention Center in
Washington, DC, March 31, 2016. / AFP.

The President, who spoke at a meeting
with the United States Secretary of State,
John Kerry, in Washington DC, said in
view of the controversial alteration and
padding of the budget proposals, he
needed to review the document to be
certain that its contents tallied with the
authentic budget proposal presented to
the National Assembly.
He said: "Some bureaucrats removed
what we put in the proposal and
replaced it with what they wanted.
"I have to look at the bill that has been
passed by the National Assembly,
ministry by ministry, to be sure that
what has been brought back for me to
sign is in line with our original
submission."
Declaring that his administration would
continue to vigorously prosecute its war against corruption, President Buhari sought and received an assurance from Mr. Kerry that the United States government would facilitate the repatriation of all stolen Nigerian funds found within the American banking system.

"It will greatly help our country if you
assist us to recover all our stolen funds which we can establish to be within your financial system," the President said.
Acknowledging that the United States
had been of great help to his
administration in the retraining and re-equipping of the Nigerian Armed Forces which had resulted in the significant success already achieved against Boko Haram, President Buhari said the Federal Government was now working very hard to restore full normalcy in the North Eastern states.

"Boko Haram no longer holds any local government area. We are reconstructing damaged facilities and preparing the police to take over and reassert civilian control over areas affected by the insurgency," the President told Mr. Kerry.
Responding, John Kerry said he had been told that the stolen Nigerian funds were
in "billions of dollars".
He said: "It's not easy to hide that
amount of money and we are pretty
good in tracing them," Mr Kerry assured President Buhari, adding that relevant United States government officials would
meet with the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to discuss further cooperation in that regard.
Kerry applauded the Buhari
administration's success in rolling back the Boko Haram insurgency, saying the United States would continue to give
Nigeria all possible support to ensure
that the terrorist sect was finally
eliminated.
The U.S. Secretary of State also praised President Buhari's clear order that Nigeria's Armed Forces must show greater regard for the human rights of persons in the theatre of operations against Boko Haram.
US to render $600m 'development
assistance' to Nigeria — Kerry
In a separate meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Geoffery Onyema, Kerry said the US would invest, at least, $600 million in Nigeria in 2016.Kerry, who disclosed this during the opening session of the US-Nigeria Bi- national Commission meeting, reiterated
the commitment of the US government to Nigeria's growth.
He said his country had been
encouraged by President Muhammadu
Buhari's commitment to an economy
that was more diversified, and would,
therefore, do its best to ensure that the present administration succeeded.

He said: "We want Nigeria to succeed.
And I don't say that with any element of patronising or arrogance or any kind of view other than the fact that we know there are challenges.
"Nigeria is an extraordinary country. It
has huge potentialities, a very rich
culture. And it is finding very vibrant
expression in every branch of the arts.
Like the United States, it is a diverse
country with a very large and assertive
civil society; and like America, Nigeria is
looked to for leadership in confronting
some of the starkest challenges of our
times.
"Now, Nigeria's future is in Nigerians'
hands. We respect that. The United
States is here to help to meet your
needs, to listen to you carefully, to
understand what it is that you believe is
necessary, and to work with you where
we can to implement.
"Our development assistance this year
will top $600 million, and we are working
closely with your leaders – the leaders of
your health ministry – to halt the misery
that is spread by HIV/AIDS, by malaria,
and by TB.
"Our Power Africa Initiative is aimed at
strengthening the energy sector, where
shortage in electricity has frustrated the
population and impeded growth. And
our long-term food security programme,
Feed the Future, is helping to create
more efficient agriculture and to raise
rural incomes in doing that.
"Our Young African Leaders Programme,
in which many Nigerians participate, is
preparing the next generation to take
the reins of responsibility… and in
education, we are working together to
try to fight illiteracy, especially in the
country's north, where the lack of
opportunity has been holding people
back, and where the terrorist
organisation, Boko Haram, has
murdered thousands and disrupted the
lives of millions."
In his response, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyema, who led
the Nigerian delegation, thanked his
host for the warm reception, and
expressed Nigeria's indebtedness to the
US for the role it had been playing in its
stability.
"We cannot underestimate the impact
that your visit and the support of your
country has had in shaping the future
for Nigeria.
"Of course, we've had respect for the
United States for a very long time. Your
system of government is one that we've
adopted. We had a Westminster model
once upon a time, but we threw that
aside and embraced the United States
model – an expensive model it is too, but
we're struggling as best we can.
"We share the same values and we
respect very much what this great
country has achieved, and this country
has really become a model for all
countries in the world. We aspire to
going some ways to emulate this
model,"Oyema said.
No rift between executive, legislature
on 2016 Budget — Minister
However, the Minister of Information
and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said
yesterday, that there was no
disagreement between the Executive and
Legislative arms of government on the
budget.
"There is absolutely no rift, no issue of
budget being sent back. Things are just
taking their due course," the Minister
said when he visited the corporate
headquarters of the Leadership
Newspaper, as part of his continuous
engagement with stakeholders in the
media industry.
He said it was not true that the President
has refused to sign the Appropriation Bill
passed by the National Assembly.
"It takes a few days (after the passage)
for the National Assembly to clean up
the document in readiness for the
President's assent," he said.
Speaking further on the budget, Alhaji
Mohammed said when it was eventually
passed into law, it would lift millions of
Nigerians out of poverty.
The minister said: "The first is the
employment of 500,000 unemployed
university graduates who we are going to
train as teachers. Two, we are also
employing 370,000 unemployed non-
graduates, people with National Diploma
and Technical Certificate. The third
tranche is the social intervention
targeted at 1 million people, made up of
market women, traders and artisans to
be trained and given loans through their
cooperatives.
"The fourth one is the home-grown One-
Meal-A-Day Programme. Here we are
targeting several millions of pupils in
primary schools all over Nigeria. The
exponential effect of this one meal a day
is huge. Even if we are targeting five
million pupils and we are giving each of
them one egg a day, you are talking
about five million eggs that will be
provided by our poultry farmers. This
will also help to increase the demand for
maize and then you are going to employ
people all around."
The Minister further disclosed that the
Federal Government would also
commence Conditional Cash Transfer to
the most vulnerable Nigerians, in
collaboration with some development
partners, to bring succour to such
people.
He said a special bursary scheme would
also come on stream to grant
scholarships to students of Science,
Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics in a deliberate effort to
support the students financially, while
also bolstering the nation's drive for
industrialization.
Alhaji Mohammed also disclosed that
the sum of N350 billion would soon be
injected into the economy to enable
contractors resume work on abandoned
infrastructure projects, with timeline
and target on project delivery and job
creation.
He thanked Nigerians for their patience
and the understanding of the challenges
facing the government, saying rather
than give excuses, the government was
working round the clock to alleviate the
pains of Nigerians.
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