The Federal Government yesterday said that capital releases to Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the 2016 budget, have reached a record N1 trillion, the highest ever budgetary releases in Nigeria’s annual funding for capital projects. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who revealed this in a statement, noted that so far, N1 trillion has been released on capital projects, which remained the highest so far in the history of this country. She assured however, that with the current stability in oil price and the return of normalcy in Niger Delta, government will do more this year (2017),” she said.
The Minister who disclosed the figure in an interactive exchange with members of the House of Representatives Tactical Committee on Recession in her office in Abuja, said the amount was released for various projects including the commencement of the construction of a dual standard railway line that would link Lagos and Kano, rehabilitation of roads, expanding irrigation facilities to boost agriculture and the upgrading of aviation infrastructure throughout the country.
Adeosun said that the components of the releases include aggregate releases to the MDAs of N870,055,792,283.00 billion as at the end of February 2017 and additional releases of N65,393,920,000 billion. Others were Manual Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIEs) in February 2017 in the sum of N11,179,173,711.42 billion and an additional Manual AIEs worth N45,804,709,077.20 billion as at March 13, 2017. Mrs. Adeosun noted that the overall capital releases totalling N992,433,595,071.42 billion have made impact on the Nigerian economy, by creating jobs, stimulating economic activities in communities and upgrading infrastructure, thereby improving the wellbeing of Nigerians. The Minister pointed out that contractors returning to project sites around the country have employed workers, contributed to economic growth and improved the wellbeing of Nigerians in line with the strategic objectives of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
2016 Budget: Capital releases to MDAs hit N1trn
