Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

By Ndubuisi Francis

Total releases for this year’s capital budget Thursday rose to N1.01 trillion as the Federal Government announced the release of another N300 billion for the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter release, which represents 75 per cent of the total capital budget of N1.3 trillion, according the Ministry Finance, is to ensure that the momentum on capital budget implementation is maintained as the year comes to a close.

The latest release is coming amid criticisms by the National Assembly that implementation of the budget, which effectively commenced in April, is low.

The ministry, in a statement issued by Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, Senior Special Assistant to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, noted that the impact of the budget implementation can be gleaned from improvements in various sectors of the economy, including power, agriculture, job creation, transportation, and ports reforms.

Power supply in many parts of the country, the ministry pointed out, “has improved to a consistent level of 15 hours per day” even as it stated that rehabilitation of existing power infrastructure has yielded up to 1000 megawatts of additional electricity.

More to follow…