Should the President sign the Ways and Means bill into law?

Jun 02, 2023|Gbemisola Alonge

Key questions this article answers:

Last week, the national assembly passed a bill increasing the limit of Way & Means financing from 5% to 15%. What does this mean for the new administration fiscal position?
With this new bill signalling increasing borrowing, should the new President pass the bill into law?

Last weekend was quite busy for lawmakers around the world. The US government and Congress finally agreed to suspend its debt ceiling while putting some spending limits to prevent the US government from defaulting on its obligations.

At home, in Nigeria, our lawmakers also got busy.

Two days before the new President's inauguration on May 29th, members of the Senate held an emergency meeting on Saturday to pass a crucial amendment to the CBN Act. This bill was considered urgent as lawmakers rarely meet during recess or over the weekends. The urgency was further emphasised when the House of Representatives convened on Sunday, May 28th—the day before the inauguration, to pass the same bill. Despite being the first reading for both bills, they were passed on the respective days the meetings were held.

The bill aims to raise the Ways and Means limits from 5% to 15%. Now, it awaits President Tinubu's signature to become law.

It's unclear why both houses of lawmakers waited until after President Buhari's last day in office to do this. But clearly, the lawmakers thought it was a critical thing to do ahead of President Tinubu's inauguration on Monday.

The decision before President Tinubu is whether to sign this bill or not. His team of advisors has probably already made the decision, but let's slip in some last-minute analysis (and recommendations) before the actual signing (or otherwise) is done.