1. It gives me great pleasure today to sign the first full-year
budget of this administration into law. I thank the leadership of
the National Assembly, in particular, the Senate President and
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and indeed all
members of the National Assembly for their cooperation in
making this a reality.
2. The budget is intended to signpost a renewal of our
commitment to restoring the budget as a serious article of faith
with the Nigerian people. This Administration is committed to
ensuring that henceforth the annual appropriation bill is presented
to the National Assembly in time for the passage of the Act
before the beginning of the fiscal year.
3. Through the 2016 budget, aptly titled "Budget of Change’’,
the government seeks to fulfill its own side of the social contract.
The Budget I have signed into law provides for aggregate
expenditures of N6.06trn. Further details of the approved budget,
as well as our Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016
budget, will be provided by the Honourable Minister of Budget
and National Planning.
4. I shall be speaking in more details about the Budget, its
implementation and the over-all national economic and social
policies of the Government in my address on May 29th, God
willing.
5. In designing the 2016 budget, we made a deliberate choice to
pursue an expansionary fiscal policy despite the huge decline in
government revenues from crude oil exports. This is why we
decided to enlarge the budget deficit at this time, to be financed
principally through foreign and domestic borrowings. All borrowings
will however be applied towards growth-enhancing capital
expenditures.
6. The signing of the budget today will trigger concerted efforts
to reflate the Nigerian economy, a key element of which is an
immediate injection of N350bn into the economy by way of
capital projects. To illustrate our renewed commitment to
infrastructural development, the 2016 budget allocates over
N200bn to road construction as against a paltry N18bn allocated
for same purpose in the 2015 budget.
7. Despite the current difficulties we will work extra-hard to
achieve our revenue projections. Our revenue generating agencies
are coming under better management and are being re-oriented.
The implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is
expected to contribute significantly to improving transparency over
government revenues.
8. Our determined fight against corruption is resulting in
improvements in the quality of public expenditure. The work of
the Efficiency Unit, as well as other public financial management
initiatives, are also contributing in this regard. The continuing
efforts to reduce recurrent expenditures should hopefully free up
more funds for capital expenditure in 2017 and beyond.
9. As I said in my New Year message, living in State House does
not in any way alienate me from your daily struggles. I read the
newspapers and listen to the TV and radio news. I hear your
cries. I share your pains.
10. We are experiencing probably the toughest economic times in
the history of our Nation. I want to commend the sacrifice,
resilience and toughness of all Nigerians young and old who have
despite the hardships continued to have hope and confidence of a
great future for Nigerians. But permit me to say that this
government is also like none other. We are absolutely committed
to changing the structure of the Nigerian economy once and for
all.
11.We are working night and day to diversify the economy so that
we never again have to rely on one commodity to survive as a
country. So that we can produce the food we eat, make our own
textiles, produce most of the things we use. We intend to create
the environment for our young peoples to be able to innovate and
create jobs through technology.
12. I cannot promise you that this will be an easy journey, but in
the interest of so much and so many we must tread this difficult
path. I can assure you that this government you have freely
elected will work with honesty and dedication, day and night to
ensure that our country prospers and that the prosperity benefits
all Nigerians. God bless Federal Republic of Nigeri

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