Executive arm of government over the poor
implementation of the 2017 budget and the
release of about 15 per cent of the N2.177
trillion voted for capital projects.
Worried by the huge gap in the capital budget
and the actual amount released so far, the
senators warned that the trend could cause
serious injury to the economy and citizenry.
The Senate spoke while drilling the Minister of
Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and her Budget and
National Planning counterpart, Senator Udoma
Udo Udoma, for over two hours, yesterday.
The duo appeared before the Senate Joint
Committee on Finance and Appropriations where
members of the Committee asked the ministers
various questions ranging from revenue profile to
what had been released so far to the Ministries,
Departments and Agencies, MDAs of government.
For 2017, the Federal Government had a budget
of N7.4 trillion of which N2.177 trillion was
voted for capital projects. So far, Mrs Adeosun
said N341 billion has been released for capital
projects.
Frowning at the poor implementation of the
budget, the lawmakers warned that if not
corrected and improved on, it could hurt the All
Progressive Congress ,APC, in the next election.
Senators at the meeting sharply disagreed with
the Federal Government over plans to release
only an insignificant fraction of the N2.177 trillion
capital vote in the 2017 budget.
Answering questions during the meeting,
Adeosun and Udoma who told the senators that
the government lacked adequate funding for the
budget, said the government intends to release
over N100 billion this week, in addition to the
N310 billion earlier released for capital projects.
Senator Danujma Goje, Chairman of the
committee said: “If the trend of poor releases
continues like this, Nigerians will die off. It’s not
good to raise people’s hopes and dash them. In
implementing the January-December fiscal
system, we should be careful not to sacrifice half
of the 2017 budget.”
To roll over 60% of 2017 capital projects to 2018
Adeosun revealed that federal government
intended to roll over, at least, 60 per cent of
2017 capital projects to 2018 budget, adding
that there is no stoppage in terms of capital
releases and projects simply continue.
Adeosun hinged the decision to roll over 2017
budget to 2018 on the advice of the Senate
Committee to the Executive.
N2.3 trillion deficit in 2017 budget
The ministers noted that it would be extremely
difficult for the government to meet obligations in
capital budget, pointing out that there was N2.3
trillion deficit in the 2017 capital budget.
Adeosun, who noted that the 2017 budget was
projected mainly on external borrowing, said
making further capital releases would depend on
how fast the government could push the
borrowing process, adding that domestic
borrowing would not be enough to fund the gaps
in the budget. She stressed that the cost of
domestic borrowing was getting too high, noting
that borrowing from foreign sources was far
cheaper than domestic borrowing.
The Finance Minister stated that even if the funds
were to be available, government cannot release
the entire N2.177 trillion capital vote within the
three months left in the year.
Consequently, the Ministers said about 60 per
cent of the 2017 capital budget would be rolled
over to the 2018 budget, just as that of 2016
was similarly rolled over till May 2017.
N340.9 billion released for capital projects
She revealed that the federal government has so
far released the sum of N340.9 billion to fund
capital projects for which the sum of N2.177
trillion was budgeted, adding, “at the end of this
week we would have released about
N440.9billion on capital budget for 2017.”
Mrs. Adeosun told the senators that the
government could only release N440.9 billion of
the total amount.
N1.5 trillion released for recurrent expenditure
The Finance Minister, who told the Senate that
cumulative releases on current expenditure was
N1.5 trillion, said Statutory Transfers is N128.8
billion; Funds for Pensions, N37.8 billion;
Overheads, N92.4 billion; Service Wide, N223.6
billion; Capital Expenditure, N340.9 billion and
‘’we successfully raised a N100 billion to be
released this week. At the end of this week, we
would have released about N440.9 billion on
capital budget for 2017.
“Note that there was no stoppage in terms of
capital releases and projects simply continue.
The administration is focusing on completing
prioritized projects that were critical to the
administration. So we will keep the capital going
to ensure that the projects are not disrupted from
completion.”
Adeosun said the N100 billion raised from the
Sukuk, a non- interest diaspora bond, would be
released to the Ministry of Works to enable it
carry out some infrastructural development.
Speaking further, the senators, who drew a
parallel between Nigeria and Brazil in the
handling of economic recession in the two
countries, said the Brazilian economy had
suffered recession for eight consecutive quarters
but came out of it with 2.46 inflation rate and 10
per cent misery rate.
The legislators asked the ministers to explain
why the Nigerian economy, which suffered
recession for five consecutive quarters would
come out with 16.5 per cent inflation rate and
over 50 per cent misery rate, which thy described
as disappointing.
In her response, Adeosun said the difference was
in the better infrastructure that’s obtainable in
Brazil, arguing that the South American country
enjoyed 24-hour electricity supply. She attributed
the wide gap in the inflation rates between the
two countries to the nature of the two
economies, adding that Brazil operates a
diversified economy, with emphasis on massive
agricultural production.
She blamed Nigeria’s slow growth on poor
infrastructure and dependence on oil revenues as
major source of foreign exchange earnings.
On his part, the Director-General, Budget Office,
Ben Akabueze, told the Senators that out of the
N2.05 trillion earmarked to fund the 2016
budget, only N1.2 trillion has been realized so
far.
Why we drilled ministers – Senator Goje
Speaking earlier, Chairman Senate Committee on
Appropriations, Senator Danjuma Goje said the
two ministers were at the National Assembly to
brief the committees as well as Nigerians on the
implementation of the 2017 budget, adding, “it is
very important bearing in mind that the budget
was passed by the National Assembly in May
and was signed into law by the then Acting
President, Yemi Osinbajo on June 6, 2017.
“We are now four months into the implementation
of the budget. Nigerians need to know how far
we have gone and what we are going to achieve.”
We have heard from the minister of budget and
national planning that they intend to submit the
2018 budget this month. By implication, if they
bring it this month, they will expect the budget to
be approved before the end of the year.”
Also speaking, Chairman Committee on Finance,
Senator John Enoh said the seriousness of the
session was underscored by the fact the Senate
first’s resolution on this matter was for the two
ministers to appear at the plenary but ‘’the latter
resolution is what has brought us here and the
wisdom is that a session like this will be more
detailed.’’
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