- N336bn Released for Capital Projects in First Quarter
The Federal Government has said it has released a total sum of N336bn for the implementation of capital projects contained in the 2017 budget.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who confirmed the release in a statement issued on Tuesday, said the amount was for the first quarter of this year.
The 2017 budget was presented to the National Assembly on December 14, 2016, and passed by the lawmakers on May 11, 2017.
The fiscal document, which was signed into law then by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on June 12, 2017, had a total expenditure of N7.44tn out of which N2.99tn was for non-debt recurrent spending, N2.36tn for capital expenditure, while debt servicing was to gulp N1.66tn.
Adeosun said while the ministry had earlier announced that N350bn would be released, the sum of N336bn had been made available to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.
Out of this amount, she explained that the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got the highest allocation of N90bn.
This is followed by the Ministry of Defence, with N71bn; while the Transport ministry got N30bn.
The minister said the Agriculture ministry received N30bn; Water Resources got N12bn; while other sectors combined received N103bn.
Adeosun stated that the prioritisation of the release of available funds was made in accordance with the objectives of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.