By Florence Israel, Abuja.
The capital releases to the Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have hit an all time peak record of N1 trillion, according to the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun.
In statement from the Ministry of Finance, Mrs Adeosun noted that the amount was the highest ever budgetary release for annual funding of capital projects in Nigeria.
This, according to the statement, was revealed during an interactive exchange between the Minister and members of the House of Representatives Tactical Committee on Recession at the Minister’s office in Abuja.
“So far, N1 trillion has been released on capital and this is the highest so far in the history of this country. With the current stability in oil price and the return of normalcy in Niger Delta, I am sure we will do more this year, 2017,” the Minister said.
According to the Minister, the amount was released for various projects which included the commencement of the construction of a dual standard railway line linking Lagos to Kano, road rehabilitations, irrigation facilities expansion in order to boost agricultural productivity and also to help upgrade aviation infrastructure across the nation.
She gave a breakdown of the capital releases to the MDAs as at the end of February 2017 to be N870, 055, 792, 283.00 and another additional release of N65, 393, 920, 000.00
Others include the sum of N11, 179, 173, 711.42 and N45, 804, 709, 077.20 to Manual AIEs as at March 13, 2017.
Mrs. Adeosun went further noting that the capital releases which summed up to N992, 433, 595, 071.42 had impacted reasonably on the Nigerian economy through job creation, increased economic activities in communities and infrastructural upgrade, thereby impacting positively on Nigerians generally in line with the strategic objectives of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Change administration.
“We are determined to transform the economy and this is why we are focused on capital expenditure. If we have rail, road and power, then we will be able to generate jobs and prosperity ,” she emphasised.
It will be recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the construction of twelve more major highways budgeted at N80 billion across the nation at its meeting on March 22, 2017 as part of the Federal Government’s resolve to devote more resources to capital projects.
