The Nigerian Government has released ₦1.23tn to 17 ministries for the execution of capital projects in the third quarter of 2023.
According to the Budget Implementation Report for Q3, 2023 released by the Budget Office on Sunday, 75.4 per cent lower than the ₦5trn allocated for capital expenditure in the 2023 budget, resulted in a deficit of ₦3.8tn.
The fund was aimed at advancing development and infrastructure initiatives as of September 30, 2023.
Capital projects are major investments in physical infrastructure or assets that are expected to provide long-term benefits. These projects usually involve the construction, acquisition, or renovation of tangible assets such as buildings, roads, bridges, dams, schools, hospitals, and other facilities.
The report also showed that the ministries only utilised ₦962.87bn out of the cash backing of ₦1.23tn.
It added that a breakdown of the 52 MDAS included in the report of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation indicated different levels of utilisation.
“42 of the MDAs representing (80.77 per cent) had utilised more than the overall average utilisation rate of 52.44 per cent of the amount cash-backed. 35 out of them had above 65.0 per cent utilisation rate while only four (7.72 per cent) had one hundred per cent utilisation level.
The Ministries of Defence, Works and Agriculture got the highest capital allocations of ₦189.39bn, ₦178.62bn and N128.24bn while the Office of the National Security Adviser, Ministry of Environment and Women got of lowest cash backing of ₦3.93bn, ₦3.73bn and ₦5.37bn respectively.
A breakdown showed that the Ministry of Defence got the highest allocation for capital projects with a cash backing of ₦189.39bn but it only utilised ₦180.69 leaving a balance of ₦9.3bn.
This was followed by the Ministry of Works and Housing with a total cash-backed allocation of ₦178.62bn. It however utilised ₦118.65bn leaving a balance of ₦57.97bn.
The agriculture ministry got cash backing of ₦128.24bn but utilised ₦109.89bn leaving a balance of ₦18.35bn.
The budget office has stated that the majority of projects implemented were constituency projects that were not within the mandate of the MDAs.
It said the practice is disturbing because these projects are prioritised over the projects in line with the mandate of the MDAs.
The report read in part, “Most MDAs’ capital projects are dominated by constituency projects. This practice is disturbing because although most of the projects have no direct bearing with the mandate of the host agencies, they are prioritized over the projects in line with the mandate of the MDAS.”
It further recommended that ‘Considering the preponderance of constituency projects that are not within the mandate of the MDAs, it is important to emphasise and prioritise only capital projects that are in line with the mandate of the various MDAs during budget preparation and implementation.”
