Low Releases Of Capital Votes Worry Reps

The House of Representatives last Thursday, expressed worry over the continued low level of releases of capital allocation by the Ministry of Finance, to Ministries, Departments and Agencies ( MDAs).

The Vice Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep. Victor Ogene said this at a news conference in Abuja.

According to him, the N300 billion capital allocation for the first quarter, claimed to have been released by the minister of finance, was not cash- backed.

“We are still worried that the non cash backing of the said sum with 19 working days to the end of the fiscal year.

“We think that it might also slow down the momentum that we thought has been built in terms of the implementation of the capital aspect of the budget.”

Ogene said that only N1.1trillion, representing 75 per cent, had been released so far, out of the N1.3 trillion appropriated for capital projects in 2012.

He disclosed that money released over a month ago and not cash backed did not speak well of the handling of the country’s financial system.

“As equal and joint stakeholders in the Nigerian project, that situation is unacceptable.”

Ogene called on relevant agencies saddled with the responsibilities of releasing funds, to hasten the process on the remaining capital allocations to MDAs.

The lawmaker said that the House was working toward the passage of the 2013 appropriation bill before Christmas.

It would be recalled that the House had equally expressed similar feeling over poor implementation of capital budgets by the executive arm of government.

On the recent comment by Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Governor, CBN, that the Federal Government should sack half of its workforce, Ogene said Sanusi “is an economist with bias for political turbulence.”