FG Disburses N248bn Capital Vote

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, yesterday, assured that though Nigeria was technically in recession, measures were being taken to ensure a rebound of the economy.
The Minister made this known when she appeared before the Senate to brief it on fiscal policies being put in place to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians.
She reiterated the commitment of the present administration to coming up with policies to address the problems confronting currently Nigerians, particularly the poor.
According to her, the Federal Government has made capital release of N248 billion from the 2016 budget as part of efforts to get the economy going.
“Technically, in economic terms, we have had two periods of negative growth; we are in a recession but I don’t think we should dwell on that.
“The most important thing is that we are going to get out of it.
“Our social intervention projects have been funded to provide relief to the poorest. Every local government will be touched by that programme and we will continue to get out of it.
“While Nigeria lives in one of the toughest times, we are confident that the strategies we are deploying will get us out of the problems we inherited.
“Those strategies are about being disciplined about government spending to reduce wastage and leakages to ensure that we invest in infrastructure that is needed to create jobs and growth in this economy,’’ she said.
“On capital releases done so far, N248 billion has been released so far, with another N16 billion to be released imminently.
“Ministry of Works has received N74 billion in the last two months, compared to N19 billion for the whole of last year.
“Agriculture, which is the strategic focus of this government has received N22 billion compared to just N4 billion the whole of last year.
“Transport has received N22 billion compared to just N6 billion for the whole of last year.
“The extent of our release shows government’s seriousness about reviving this economy and we are confident that the work we are doing will bear fruit; we are already beginning to see increased production in agriculture,’’ she added.
Adeosun said that all government plans to reposition the economy in spite of drop in oil price and other challenges were consistent with promises made at the inception of the administration.