FG rules out full implementation of 2016 Budget

The Federal Government has ruled out the possibility of full implementation of the 2016 Appropriation Act signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, said this while briefing State House correspondents shortly after Buhari signed the budget at the President Villa, Abuja.

Udoma was joined at the briefing by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.

The minister admitted that having been signed late into the year, it would be impossible to achieve full implementation of the budget even though that is the government's aim.

'Our aim is 100 percent implementation because the budget is a law that must be implemented. But the reality is that we may not achieve this because we are starting late,' the minister said.

The minister also said the government would work hard to ensure that the National Assembly gets the 2017 budget proposal by October so that it could be passed before the end of the year.

This, he said, would afford the government the opportunity of implementing from January to December. – Punch.