By Nse Anthony- Uko, Business & Economy Editor
Out of the N350billion proposed release for capital projects in the first quarter, the federal government has so far released N331billion.
Overall, the federal government projected to spend a total of N1.7 billion on capital expenditure in the 2016 budget.
This was stated by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, Tuesday, at a Town Hall Meeting and Policy Dialogue for Good Governance organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture in Abuja.
According to Udoma, while the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got the bulk of the funds so far released at N100billion, Defence followed at N50 billion, and the remaining Ministries of Transportation, Agriculture and Niger Delta Affairs got N22billion, N21billion and N8.2billion respectively.
The release is seen as a positive step by analyst who had before now expressed belief that such move by the federal government would immediately stimulate economic activities in the country.
Nigeria’s economy contracted in the first quarter of the year, as it recorded negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the quarter. Though official figures for the second quarter is yet to be released, strong indications point to another contraction in the second quarter, hence a slid into recession.
Expressing the federal government’s determination to achieve full budget implementation, Udoma said that his ministry had set up a measurable target for proper budget implementation which would last for 12 months. According to him, the “2016 budget implementation will last up to May 2017.”
Sometime in June, the Minister of State for Budget and Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, announcing the release then of N280billion had stated that the release of the N350billion was an ongoing process.
Mrs Ahmed explained that the release of the funds followed a thorough scrutiny of the projects to be funded. “It took some time, but we have sent about N280billion for projects that have been scrutinized…”
In the same vein, the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, has projected to save N48billion for the federal government through the electronic procurement system, while implementing the 2016 budget.
The Director-General of the BPP, Mr Ahmed Abdul, said that this would be possible once “human interface” during public procurement can be reduced. “The whole idea is that most of the issues or corruption related issues are arising from human interface. Through electronic procurement, you will reduce human interface; and by so doing, you will increase efficiency and as well save a lot of money while implementing your budget.
“We have a projection that if we adopt an electronic procurement system, we are going to save about N48bn. This amount will be saved in 2016 if we can successfully adopt the electronic system of procurement.”