Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on National Assembly matters, Ita Enang,
has said that acting president Yemi Osinbajo, will be the one to sign the 2017 budget. Enang yesterday caused confusion
in the polity after saying in an interview with Channels TV that President Buhari will
be the one to sign the 2017 budget Speaking to state house correspondents after the delivery of the 2017 budget to Osinbajo earlier today, on Friday, Enang
said Osinbajo had the power to assent to the budget.
“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 7 or 8 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’s upon the completion of the process that it will be assented to by the president and the president here now is the acting president.”he said
