2017 Capital Releases: MDAs Got N1.580trn – FG
BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – The Federal Government on Tuesday said a total of N1,580,270,755,084.44 (One trillion, five hundred and eighty billion, two hundred and seventy million, seven hundred and fifty-five thousand, eighty-four Naira, forty-four kobo) capital cost was released to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the 2017 federal budget.
The amount released is remarkably higher than the N1,219,471,747,443.00 total capital releases for the year 2016.
Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, who released the figures in Abuja, said; “In the 2017 capital releases, Power, Works and Housing received the highest allocation of N523,011,701,723.25 which was 33.10 per cent of the total capital releases. The sector also received the highest releases in the 2016 capital budget, which was a total of N307,411,749,682.00 (25.21%) of the 2016 capital budget.”
Mrs Adeosun also said that Defence and Security received the second highest capital releases of N197,596,016,072.02 (12.50%) in 2017, as against N77,532,885,729.00 (6.36%) total releases the sector received in 2016.
In a statement by the signed by Hassan Dodo, Director of Information in the Finance Ministry, Adeosun stated that Agriculture and Water Resources got a total of N149,485,276,897.37 (9.46%) in 2017, compared to the sectors’ N143,121,925,241.00 (11.74%) capital releases in year 2016.
Similarly, the transportation sector got a total of N126,253,042,607.50 (7.99%) of the 2017 capital releases as against the N171,900,597,013.00 (14.10%) in 2016. This is even as the Health and Education jointly received a total of N98,190,277,285.69 (6.21%) for 2017 compared to N56,270,030,992.00 (4.61%) that both sectors got in 2016.
She further disclosed that all other sectors combined got a total of N485,734,440,498.61, representing 30.74 per cent of the 2017 capital releases as against a total of N463,234,558,786.00 (37.99%) disbursed to these sectors in year 2016.
Mrs Adeosun, said despite the economic challenges in 2017, the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the capital releases, adding that the sustained high allocations to key sectors reflected the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructure development in the country.
She assured that government was working assiduously to attract private capital to complement government spending in these key areas.
