forty-three days after the 2019 budget was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Government has yet to release funds to Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the implementation of capital projects.
Buhari had on 27th May signed the 2019 budget of N8.91tn, made up of capital expenditure of N2.09tn, recurrent expenditure of N4.07tn, statutory transfers of N502bn, fiscal deficit of N1.92tn and special intervention of N500bn.
Top officials of the government confided in our correspondent that as of the close of work on Tuesday, no amount had been released for funding of capital projects contained in the 2019 budget.
One of the officials attributed the delay in releasing fund for capital projects to various factors, some of which include the procurement process, the non-constitution of a cabinet and the low approval limit of Permanent Secretaries.
The source said, “You will recall that the budget was signed over a month ago by the President and as was expected, funding of projects particularly those that are critical to the developmental objectives of the government ought to have started.
“However, this has not been the case, because MDAs have yet to get their funding for the implementation of capital projects.
“Part of the reasons could be that the cabinet members have not been appointed and this is crucial to the release of funds for MDAs.”
When contacted on reasons for the delay in releasing fund for capital projects, the Director of Information in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Hassan Dodo, said he had no information on the enquiries from our correspondent.