Budget Office Begins Monitoring Of Capital Vote Implementation

By The Guardian Newspaper

THE Budget Office of the Federation has commenced the monitoring of the implementation of the second quarter releases to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) across the six geo-political zones of the country.

The exercise, which also involves members of the Civil Society Organisations and the press affects Power; Roads, Water, Health and Education sectors.

The Teams, headed by a Director from the Budget Office, is to evaluate and match the quality and extent of execution with funds already received and the timelines in accordance with the project agreement.

The House of Representatives is not comfortable with the 56 per cent execution level of the 2012 Capital votes and has demanded a 100 per cent implementation by September, that is by end of third quarter or risk the impeachment of Mr. President.

However, the Coordinating Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, ruled out the possibility of full implementation of the budget as requested by the law makers.

So far, she said the sum of N404 billion has been released in the First and Second Quarters Capital Votes, out of which the sum of N324 billion is cash- backed out of the total N1.5 trillion Capital Expenditure for the fiscal year 2012

Commenting on the liquidity position of the country as at end of May end this year, she said the Federal Government had spent a total of N1.44 trillion, comprising N1.03 trillion on Recurrent Expenditure, made of salaries and overheads; while the balance of N404 billion has been released for capital votes implementation.

She blamed MDAs for the slow pace of budget implementation, pointing out that many were yet to draw down on their allocations already released.