The National Assembly has expressed serious concern over the poor implementation and low release of funds to Ministries, Departments and Agencies for capital projects in the 2024 Budget.
The position of the National Assembly followed the report of
the economic team led by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating
Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, showing that the 2024 budget
performance was 43% with Recurrent expenditure recording 100% as
against 25% for capital budget.
Speaking at a joint sitting of the Senate and House Committees on
Appropriation and the Presidential Economic Team, the chairman of the
Senate Committee, Solomon Adeola said the economic team should do
something urgent to release more funds to enable the people to feel the impact of government.
Adeola advocated a drastic reduction in the ratio of recurrent expenditure to capital expenses from the present level of about 80% for recurrent and 20% for capital to at least 60% to 40% as capital projects spur economic growth.
Speaking in the same vein, Chairman of the House Committee Abubakar Birchi said projects such as schools, roads, dams, hospitals and other social infrastructure instead of such items as debt repayment should be restructured in the interim.
The Minister of Finance confirmed that there are outstanding capital
releases awaiting funding, regretting however that the country cannot go back on the old ways of spending money that is not there to avoid
backlash. Minister of Budget and Planning, Abubakar Bagudu said the
huge recurrent expenditure in the budget is a function of the level of
development and some of the societal challenges.
The Director General of the Budget Office, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu attributed the huge recurrent expenditure to past legacies inherited by the present administration like unpaid pensions and gratuities and stressed the need for legislation by the National Assembly to limit the size of recurrent expenditure in the budget.