The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun has disclosed that the sum of one trillion, five hundred and eighty billion, two hundred and seventy million, seven hundred and fifty-five thousand, eighty-four naira, forty-four kobo was released to Ministries, Departments and Agencies as capital cost for the 2017 federal budget.
A statement signed by the Director of Information in the Ministry of Finance, Hassan Dodo, quoted the minister as saying that the sum is higher than the N1,219,471,747,443.00 total capital releases for 2016.
“In the 2017 capital releases, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing received the highest allocation of N523,011,701,723.25 which was 33.10% of the total capital releases.
According to the minister, the sector also received the highest releases in the 2016 capital budget, which was a total of N307,411,749,682.00 accounting for 25.21% of the 2016 capital budget.
“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.
“Agriculture and Water Resources received a total of N149,485,276,897.37 (9.46%) in 2017. The sector had received N143,121,925,241.00 (11.74%) of the capital releases in 2016. Transportation received N126,253,042,607.50 (7.99%) of the 2017 capital releases as against N171,900,597,013.00 (14.10%) in 2016.
“Health and Education together received a total of N98,190,277,285.69 (6.21%) for 2017 as against N56,270,030,992.00 (4.61%) the sectors received in 2016.
“Other sectors combined received a total of N485,734,440,498.61, which was 30.74% of the 2017 capital releases. In 2016, a total of N463,234,558,786.00 (37.99%) was disbursed to these sectors.
According to the minister, the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the capital releases despite economic challenges adding that the sustained high allocations to key sectors was a reflection of the federal government’s commitment to infrastructure development in the country.
The Minister said the Federal Government was working assiduously to attract private capital to complement government spending in these key areas.
