FG releases N1trn capital vote, highest in history

The Federal Government has so far released N1trillion capital votes for federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) for the 2016 budget, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has said.

According to her, the amount is the highest ever budgetary releases in Nigeria’s annual funding for capital projects by any administration.

“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),” she said.

The Minister disclosed the figure in an interactive exchange with members of the House of Representatives Tactical Committee on Recession in her office in Abuja.

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.

She 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.