Acting President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday received the 2017 Appropriation Bill.
The budget was passed by the National Assembly last week.
First presented before the two chambers of the National Assembly by the President in December 2016, the budget had an estimate of N7.28 trillion before the federal lawmakers raised it to N7.44 trillion.
The document was submitted to Osinbajo by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang.
According to him, it would be assented to by the Acting President after the laid down procedure.
He said: “The budget, as passed by the National Assembly, has just been transmitted to the Acting President.
“I just delivered it.
“Let me use this opportunity to clarify an issue: the Acting President has the power to assent to the budget and he will assent to it when the processes are completed.
“The Acting President has the power to assent to the budget.
“In February, he assented to seven or eight bills. Those that he didn’t agree with, he wrote the Senate and House of Representatives that he had withheld his assent from them.
“He has the power of the President to assent to it. But the assent to the Appropriation Bill will be after the completion of the standard operation process.
“The bill has 30 days within which it will be assented to, but the process can be completed within two or three days.
“So, it is not possible to say it will be assented to in so, so and so day or in two or three days.
“It is upon the completion of the process that it will be assented to by the President, and the President here now is the Acting President.”
In a tweet, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said that the Appropriation Bill was undergoing diligent consideration.
“2017 Budget-Appropraitions Bill now officially received in the Acting President’s office and undergoing very prompt and diligent considerations,” he tweeted.
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