President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has signed the 2013 appropriation bill into law after withholding his assent to the bill for more than 6 weeks.
 
The President and the National Assembly have been at loggerheads over the spending bill with the federal legislators threatening to jettison his assent with a veto.
 
The National Assembly had presented a budget of N4.987tn for 2013, an increase of about N63bn from the Executive’s original proposal of N4.924tn.

Update:

President Jonathan signed the Bill in his office on Tuesday night in the presence of Senate President, Senator David Mark; House Speaker, Rt. Honourable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal; the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Director General of the Budget Office; Dr. Bright Okogu; and the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emordi.
 
Journalists who had been called in at short notice to witness the signing ceremony were later barred from seeing the President assent to the Bill.
 
After the signing, Mark and Tambuwal left the President’s office together in an SUV that had transported them to the villa, without saying a word to waiting reporters.
 
When reporters however insisted on comments from Emordi, she said Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati would brief them later on the signing and departed the villa afterwards.
 
The President had disagreed sharply with federal lawmakers following the mark up to the 2013 budget forwarded to him by the National Assembly.

A Press Statement later released by the Presidency confirming the signing of the 2013 Appropriation Bill reads,
 
“PRESIDENT JONATHAN ASSENTS TO THE 2013 APPROPRIATION BILL

Following consultations and an agreement between the Executive and the Legislature on the 2013 Appropriation Bill, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan today signed the bill into law.

President Jonathan wishes to reassure all Nigerians that the consultations have been in the best interest of the country, and in pursuit of understanding and mutual cooperation between both arms of government.

As part of the understanding reached with its leadership, the observations of the executive arm of government about the Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly will be further considered by the National Assembly through legislative action, to ensure effective and smooth implementation of the 2013 Appropriation Act in all aspects.

The administration remains fully committed to the positive transformation of the country, and effective and efficient service delivery for the benefit of all citizens.

All Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government have therefore been directed to work very hard to ensure that all the services, projects and programmes contained in the budget are successfully delivered on schedule in spite of the slight delay in its enactment.

Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
February 26, 2013.”

Source: The Will