Jonathan secretly signs 2014 budget

President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday secretly signed the 2014 budget, sources in the Presidency confirmed yesterday.It was learnt that the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was not around when the budget was signed.“I can confirm to you that Mr President signed the 2014 Appropriation Bill into law on Wednesday. The […]

President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday secretly signed the 2014 budget, sources in the Presidency confirmed yesterday.
It was learnt that the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was not around when the budget was signed.
“I can confirm to you that Mr President signed the 2014 Appropriation Bill into law on Wednesday. The Vice President, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Chief of Staff to the President and other top government officials were present when Mr President signed the budget”, a source said.
But the President yesterday morning formally handed over the budget to Okonjo-Iweala and the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Bright Okogu, for implementation.
After handing over the budget to the minister, the president immediately headed for Pretoria, South Africa, to participate in high-level talks with other African Heads of State and Government on combating terrorism in Africa.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala said the federal government will borrow almost N600 billion to finance the 2014 budget deficit.
Dr Iweala gave this indication when presenting the 2014 budget signed by President Goodluck Jonathan to the media in Abuja yesterday.
The budget has a deficit value of 571 billion which the minister said, would be sourced through borrowing. An additional N53 billion arising from the National Assembly increment may likely scale up the N571 billion deficit, with Mrs Iweala assuring that the government would source the amount from within.
The budget has a debt service component of N712 billion and capital expenditure of N1.19 trillion.
Reacting to the military call for more allocation to defense, the Minister said: “No amount of budget can be enough for the military. Defense spending are treated expeditiously because we must be supportive of our men who are putting their lives down for all of us.”