"I won’t sign budget in a hurry" - Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday ruled out the possibility of signing the 2016 Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly last week early as expected by Nigerians and other stakeholders.

He said before he would append his signature to the document, he would do a ministry-by-ministry review of the budget to ensure that what had been returned to him was the same with what his administration submitted to the National Assembly.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke on Thursday during a meeting with the United States Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, in Washington DC.

Buhari is currently in the US for the 4th Nuclear Security Summit.

He insisted that he would review the bill critically before assenting to it.

He said the thorough review was necessitated by alteration and padding of the budget proposals which were carried out by some unnamed persons.

The President said there was the need to review the appropriation bill to be certain that its contents tallied with the authentic budget proposal presented to the National Assembly.

“Some bureaucrats removed what we put in the proposal and replaced them with what they wanted. I have to look at the bill that has been passed by the National Assembly, ministry by ministry, to be sure that what has been brought back for me to sign is in line with our original submission,” Buhari said.