Omodele Adigun; Uche Usim
With capital allocation of over N523,billion, the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got the lion share of over N1.58 trillion capital vote released to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the 2017 Federal budget.
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who made this known yesterday in Abuja, said the N1.58 trillion represented total capital releases for 2017, out of which 33.1 per cent was released to Power, Works and Housing, which was remarkably higher than the N1.22 trillion total capital releases for 2016.
Mrs Adeosun explained, in a statement by Mr Hassan Dodo, the Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Finance, that the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing also got over N307. 41 billion or 25.21 per cent of the 2016 capital budget.
Other sectors and their allocations include Defence and Security, which got the second highest capital releases of N197. 6 billion or 12.5 per cent in 2017, as against a little above N77.5 billion or 6.36 per cent of the total releases received by the sector in 2016.
Agriculture and Water Resources received a total of N149.5 billion or 9.46 per cent in 2017. The sector received N143.12 billion or 11.74 per cent of the capital releases in 2016.
Transportation received a total of N126,25 billion or 7.99 per cent of the 2017 capital releases as against the N171.9 billion or 14.10 per cent in 2016.
Health and Education together received a total of N98.19 or 6.21 per cent for 2017 as against the N56,27 billion or 4.61 per cent, which the two sectors got in 2016.
Other sectors combined received a total of N485.73 billion, which was 30.74 per cent of the 2017 capital releases. In 2016, a total of N463.24 billion or 37.99 per cent of the total vote was disbursed to these sectors.
Mrs. Adeosun explained that despite the economic challenges in 2017, the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the capital releases.
She further stressed that the sustained high allocations to key sectors was a reflection of the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructure development in the country.
The Minister said the government was working assiduously to attract private capital to complement its spending in these key areas.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, had confirmed this to the media on Monday.
“I can confirm to you that the President will sign the budget into law at midday on Wednesday,” the presidential spokesman said.
It was also reported that the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council that normally holds every Wednesday will not hold today.
It was not clear if the meeting was put off because of the signing of the budget.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, had last Wednesday told State House correspondents that the budget would be signed into law this week.
Adesina, however, did not give details of the specific day and time the document would be signed this week.He had said the details would be made available later.
“The budget will be signed next week. We will give you the specific date when it is confirmed,” Adesina had stated.