Nigeria's acting president, Yemi Osinbajo, has finally signed the 2017 appropriation budget into law after months of delay. The acting president signed the bill into law in Abuja Monday, June 12, in place of President Buhari Present at the signing of the budget was Bukola Saraki, president of the Senate, his counterpart in the Federal House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and a host of others top government officials. The venue for the event was Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Meanwhile, the presidency said President Muhammadu Buhari gave the acting president the permission to sign the budget.

“Following the receipt of a full brief on the 2017 appropriation bill as passed by the national assembly, and to buttress the unity at the highest level of government, President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated that it is in the interest of the nation’s economy for the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to sign the appropriation bill into law,” the statement read.

“In a letter dated June 10, 2017, which he personally signed and addressed to the minister of budget and national planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, the president also said he was ‘pleased by the joint resolution that the executive would submit next year’s budget proposals by October 2017 and the national assembly will conclude the appropriation process by December 2017, so that the country can return to a normal fiscal period from next year onwards.”