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The Federal Government on Tuesday said it has released over N4.33trillion in the last three years to its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for implementation of capital projects across the country.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, who gave the figure during a press briefing on the activities of the ministry and parastatals under his supervision in Abuja, said the government, through the Ministry of Finance, was able to release N1.2 trillion under the 2016 budget for capital spending.
In the 2017 fiscal year, the minister said the sum of N1.2trillion was released by the Buhari administration, while N1.55trillion had been released as of May 8, for capital component of the 2018 budget.
He said the focus on capital projects was based on the need to reflate the economy following the recession that the country witnessed in 2016.
He said: “An important strategy we embarked on, in order to exit recession, was to seek to reflate the economy.
“This was why we increased the capital budget from 16.1 per cent in 2015 to 30.2 per cent in 2016, 31.7 per cent in 2017, 31.5 per cent in 2018 and 26 per cent in 2019. We are also able to increase our capital releases.”
Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Financial Derivatives, Mr Bismarck Rewane, has allayed rising fears that Nigeria’s economy may slip back into recession, stressing that current growth momentum will make such impossible.
Rewane who gave the assurance at the U.S.A. Fair 2019 on Tuesday in Lagos while speaking on “Forecast and Recommendations for the Nigerian economy in Buhari’s second term, said Nigeria’s GDP at $482 billion, growth rate at two per cent, and population at 190 million are indicators of an economy on a path of growth.
He noted that the real estate sector, which had suffered consecutive decline in previous quarters, grew in the GDP report of the first quarter, indicating that the economy would continue to expand.
According to him, the drivers of superior economic performance for the economy are good leadership, effective policy framework and strong institutions.
Rewane, however, urged the government to implement stronger power reform programme in the months ahead to deepen economic growth, adding that this should include the conversion of the N1 trillion power sector debts into equity, and adopt a cost-reflective tariff.
He also called on the government to invest in new pipelines; halt financial waivers and exemptions; list NNPC on the stock market; reduce petrol subsidy in 2019 and scrap it completely in 2020.
