The federal government will soon release N350 billion, the first tranche of capital release of to Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, for implementation of the 2017 budget.
Kemi Adeosun, minister of Finance, disclosed during the public presentation of the 2017 federal government budget in Abuja, that her ministry will soon release the funds MDAs.
“We are ready to make releases as soon as the budget is loaded. We have a cash plan meeting and we will release the first tranche of N350bn for capital projects,” she stated.
Udo Udoma, minister of Budget and National Planning,
He said the 2017 budget would run for one full year till June next year. He said that both the executive and the legislature were working on a template that would enable the country to commence a predictable budget year that would run between January and December of every year.
Udoma explained, “The period of the 2016 budget was up till May and the period of the 2017 budget is again by the provision of the bill that was sent to us, which is now an Act of Parliament, continues again, this time, till June. However, whenever a new Appropriations Act comes into law, it overtakes the previous Appropriations Act. This means that assuming we were as we intend to achieve this year, we pass the 2018 budget into law; when it is signed into law, then the other one ceases to exist.”
Continuing, he said, “So our aim is by January 2018, we want to get back to the January to December budget year. That means some of the projects in the 2017 budget will have to be carried over.”
Udoma explained that an understanding had been reached for the submission of virement application to adjust the budget to reflect some of the projects, which the lawmakers tinkered with. The projects, according to him, are the railways, health and Federal Capital Territory projects.
“We identified some of our priority projects where the allocations have been reduced and discussed with the National Assembly and they graciously agreed that we can bring a virement application to restore the amount of those projects. Those projects include the railways, some health projects and Federal Capital Territory projects. But until that is done, the budget and the Appropriations Act reflect exactly what was passed by the National Assembly, and this is what the law is as I speak,” said the budget minister.
The capital allocation of N2.36 trillion, which represents 31.7 per cent of the total budget, was directed at projects that were aligned with the core execution priorities of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
Udoma noted that allocations had been targeted at critical economic sectors that had quick transformative potential such as infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, services, and social development.
Ben Akabueze, director-general, Budget Office of the Federation, said the government would be engaging the citizens more in its budgeting process in order to enable the country to have a document that would be all inclusive.