The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday, presented to the National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) N6.07 trillion budget proposal for 2016, which was based on $38 per barrel oil benchmark and N197 exchange rate.
While presenting the budget, the president assured that petrol pump price would remain N87 per litre “for now as the government continues working hard to end scarcity.”
The budget is set to address “youth unemployment, cater for the vulnerable”, “to diversification to build and reflate the economy.”
Buhari stressed that there would be changes in the way government conducts its business as all MDAs would be required to prepare and present their annual budgets on time. “We will align fiscal, monetary and investment policies,” Buhari said.
Buhari was at the National Assembly personally to present the budget. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, acknowledged this in his opening speech and promised that he and his colleagues would not waste time in passing the budget.
President Muhammadu Buhari used the opportunity to apologisel to Nigerians for the fuel scarcity that has crippled social and business life in many parts of Nigeria for the past three months.
The cause of the scarcity, as Buhari revealed, was due to the refusal of stakeholders in the petroleum industry to embrace change.
He said further that he had mandated the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, “to explore ways to end the scarcity as quickly as possible.”
