FG releases N460 billion for 2018 budget

FOUR hundred and sixty billion naira has been released for the implementation of the 2018 budget, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, has disclosed. A statement by Mr. Paul Ella Abechi, the Special Adviser on Media and Communications to the Minister of Finance, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, quoted her to have confirmed that in Egypt.

The statement read: “The amount of capital releases as of today is N460 billion. We just need a resolution of the National Assembly on the borrowing plan so that we can fund it even more. We are spending money on N-power, school feeding, Trader Moni. We are conscious to meet the needs of the vulnerable.” Meanwhile, Ahmed has declared Federal Government’s desire to increase the country ‘s equity in the Afrexim Bank to leverage on its potential of boosting export and international trade as a means of diversifying the Nigerian economy. She made the disclosure after meeting with officials of the bank at its headquarters in Cairo. She said: “We have met with a delegation of Afrexim Bank from Cairo. Nigeria is a major shareholder in the bank. Part of what we have discussed is the possibility of increasing our shareholding and we discussed some of the projects and programmes that Afrexim is supporting in Nigeria.

“Afrexim has a very large portfolio in Nigeria. About 40 per cent of the bank’s portfolio is in Nigeria by way of support to the government but largely to the private sector.”

The minister said discussions also centred on setting up a medical park in Abuja. She recalled that there had been talks on the establishment of quality assurance centres in Ogun State and other parts of the country.