FG released N1.58trn for capital projects in 2017
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, has said the Federal Government released over N1.580 trillion for capital projects to all its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Specifically, she said government released N1.58 trillion capital cost to the MDAs for the 2017 budget.
In a statement signed by Mr Hassan Dodo, Director, Information, Federal Ministry of Finance, Adeosun noted that the N1.58trn total capital releases for 2017 were remarkably higher than the N1.219trn released for 2016 by N360.799 billion.
The breakdown showed that in the 2017 capital releases, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing received the highest allocation of N523bn which was 33.10 per cent of the capital releases. The sector also received the highest releases in the 2016 capital budget, of N307.411bn representing 25.21 per cent.
The figures also showed that Defence and Security received the second highest releases of N197.596bn (12.50 per cent) in 2017, as against N77.532bn (6.36 released in 2016.
Agriculture and Water Resources got N149.485bn (9.46 per cent) in 2017. per cent) The sector N143.121bn in 2016, showed.
For the had received (11.74 per cent) the breakdown Transportation sector, it received N126.253bn (7.99 per cent) capital vote in 2017 less than the N171.900bn (14.10 per cent) it got in 2016.
Health and Education got N98.190bn (6.21 per cent) for 2017 as against N56.270bn (4.61 per cent) they got in 2016.
The other sectors combined received N485.734bn which was 30.74 per cent of the 2017 capital releases; they had N463.234bn (37.99 per cent) in 2016.
In a remark, Mrs Adeosun said, “Despite the economic challenges in 2017, the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the capital releases.”
“The sustained high allocations to key sectors were a reflection of the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructure development in the country,” she said.
The minister said “the Federal Government was working assiduously to attract private capital to complement government spending in these key areas,” the statement noted.