Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) got N1,580,270,755,084.44 as capital cost for 2017 budget, the Federal Government said yesterday.
Finance Minister Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who released the figure in Abuja yesterday, said the N1,580,270,755,084.44 total capital releases for 2017 was remarkably higher than the N1,219,471,747,443.00 total capital releases for 2016.
In the 2017 capital releases “Power, Works and Housing received the highest allocation of N523,011,701,723.25 which was 33.10% of the total capital releases. The sector also received the highest in the 2016 capital budget, which was N307,411,749,682.00 (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%) received in 2016.
Agriculture and Water Resources got 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 the N171,900,597,013.00 (14.10%) in 2016.
Health and Education got 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 N485,734,440,498.61, which was 30.74% of the 2017 capital releases. In 2016, N463,234,558,786.00 (37.99%) was disbursed to these sectors.
Mrs. Adeosun said despite the economic challenges in 2017, the Federal Government fully cash-backed the capital releases.
She stressed 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”.
