Over half of this year’s capital projections have failed due to shortfall in expected revenue, the Federal Government revealed yesterday.

The Federal Government budgeted about N1.8 trillion for capital projects in 2016 but only N753.6 billion was released as at October, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma said yesterday.

Government had expected that the N6.06 trillion budget would help reflate the economy but it suffered setback due to several factors.

Presenting the 2017 budget details yesterday, Udoma said pipeline vandalism and militancy in the Niger Delta as well as low global crude oil prices affected the implementation of the 2016 budget.

He said the 2016 budget, which was predicated on oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day with 38 dollars per barrel and exchange rate of N197 to a dollar, fell short of all revenue projections.

The minister said the budget did not benefit much from the slight excess revenue from increase in global crude oil prices above government’s projection, as militant activities forced down daily outputs.

Udoma said: “The Federal Government’s 2016 revenues have been low because of the sharp decline in oil production. In particular, the revenue target for January to September 2016 was N2.8 trillion as against N2.2 trillion realised during the period.

“The projected independent revenue was N1.1 trillion as against N0.2 trillion realised during the period. The projected revenue for Custom was N0.3 trillion as against N0.2 trillion realised. The projected non-oil tax receipts for the first to third quarter of 2016 is N0.8 trillion and only N0.5 trillion was realised.”

To support funding of the 2017 budget, the minister said President Muhammadu Buhari had set up a cabinet committee that would devise innovative and creative ways to raise additional revenues from the oil and other sectors.

He said the report of the committee would be ready in time for the National Assembly to take into account in considering the budget in 2017.

“We must maximise the resources we can generate from the oil and gas sector. We cannot determine the price of crude oil, but we can engage more extensively with the communities and people of the Niger Delta to minimise disruptions to oil production,” he stated.

He said in order to get out of the current recession, the government must find the resources to spend on infrastructure and reflating the economy.

According to him, “This spending will help to stimulate and attract the private sector capital and spending. This is what the 2017 budget proposals seek to do.

“We should not allow ourselves to be discouraged by those who say we can’t find the money to fund the spending required to implement this budget.”

He said government would challenge revenue generating agencies, especially the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Customs Service to improve their efficiency and broaden their reach so as to achieve the targets set for them in the 2017 budget.

He also stated that new guidelines and templates would be issued for computing the operating surpluses of the various government agencies to achieve the target set for independent revenues.

The minister also disclosed that the federal government had budgeted N185 billion for what he called new initiatives for 2017.

According to him, the initiatives will support economic diversification and inclusion in the government’s growth drive.

He listed them as including N100bn for a new social housing programme, N50 billion for special economic zone projects to be set up in each of the geo-political zones to drive manufacturing/exports, N20bn for the revival of export-expansion grant in form of tax credit and N15bn for recapitalisation of the Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture.

Also, the Federal Government disclosed that it had so far recovered a total of N288.6 billion stolen funds.

The Director-General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze disclosed this to journalists yesterday while fielding questions during the public presentation of the 2017 budget proposals. Akabueze confirmed that the recovered loots formed part of the funding of the 2017 budget proposal.

According to him, the recovered loots “include N97.6bn which is equivalent of ‎$220m expected from the Swiss, part of what is called the Abacha loot recovery.

“Then, it also includes N72bn that has already been received in recent cases of loot recovery.

“And a balance of N90bn other expected recoveries that are at an advanced and reasonable stage that we feel comfortable and confident that they would come through in 2017 and so they have been reflected in the budget.”

Udoma said the National Assembly had the updated 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

“And they (the National Assembly) have the budget. So, everything is with them. So, they will determine how they treat it.

“I am sure the sequence will be they do the MTEF before they do the budget. But everything is with the National Assembly,” the minister said.

MrEverest:
By the time Buhari is done, majority of Nigerians will be looking for visa to countries like Congo, Sudan, Eritrea etc.

sammyj:
PMB should just change all his incompetent and lazy ministers and forget about story for the gods !!!!