Finance Minister Says Government ‘Diligently’ Implementing 2013 Budget

-
The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Tuesday said contrary to the perception in some quarters, the executive had been diligently implementing the 2013 Appropriation Act and was not waiting for the amendment it proposed to the National Assembly.

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala disclosed this when she met with the Joint House Committees on Appropriation and Finance to clarify some of her statements on the state of the economy.
The minister debunked the accusations that she predicted the collapse of the economy, stressing that she only warned of the consequences of the non-passage of the budget amendment bill currently pending before the National Assembly.
She also reiterated her earlier position that the federal government may run into difficulties paying salaries by September unless the National Assembly restored the N38 billion removed from the budget during its passage.
On the implementation of the 2013 budget, she added that so far, N600 billion had been released as the capital component of the budget while N585. 7 billion had been cash backed and therefore available to the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Similarly, she disclosed that the capital component of the budget had attained 67 percent utilization.
The Minister said N400 billion was released in the first quarter while N200 billion was released in the second quarter of the year.
However, she said the economy was facing challenges on two fronts, namely: dwindling oil revenue and low receipts from Customs duties.
On the first area of concern, she said the economy was suffering due to the problem of pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft and frequent shutdown of oil pipelines by oil firms once the pipes were compromised by the vandals.
The Minister said given the outlook of the global economy, particularly with the discovery of shale oil and the cut down on Nigeria’s oil exports to the United States, there was need for the country to take seriously the need for the diversification of its economy.
She hinted that the diversification had started already with the growth recorded in local rice production, adding that it was also this growth that has reduced the importation of food into the country and reduction in revenue from the Nigeria Customs.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala allayed the fears of the lawmakers over their constituency projects, saying that N50 billion out of the N100 billion allocated to the constituency projects have been released to the MDAs that are making procurements for the execution of the projects.
The balance of the constituency project funds, she said, is currently in a special account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and could be accessed as soon as the MDAs and the designated contractors were prepared to execute these projects.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why do you want to kill yourself?

-
Image
Imagine this. You come home from school one day. You’ve had yet another horrible day. You’re just ready to give up. So you go to your room, close the door, and take out that suicide note you’ve written and rewritten over and over and over You take out those razor blades, and cut for the very last time. You grab that bottle of pills and take them all. Laying down, holding the letter to your chest, you close your eyes for the very last time. A few hours later, your little brother knocks on your door to come tell  you  dinners ready. You don’t answer, so he walks in. All he sees is you laying on your bed, so he thinks you’re asleep. He tells your mom this. Your mom goes to your room to wake you up. She notices something is odd. She grabs the paper in your hand and reads it. Sobbing, she tries to wake you up. She’s screaming your name. Your brother, so confused, runs to go tell Dad that “Mommy is crying and sissy won’t wake up....
www.funmiboimostboss@gmail.com

‘Mu’azu’s peace talks with Obasanjo failed’

-
Image
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo There are strong indications that efforts by the Peoples Democratic Party to make former President Olusegun Obasanjo to have a rethink  on his decision to stay away from the party’s activities  have failed.  Investigations on Thursday showed that Obasanjo insisted when the new PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu visited him on January 26, that Jonathan  must  honour his alleged promise in 2011 not to contest the 2015 presidential election. A very reliable  PDP national officer  confided in  The PUNCH that  Obasanjo also  gave  other conditions that the new leadership of the party must meet before he would have a change of mind.  They include the restructuring of the party as well as   the correction of the  anomalies relating to the removal of Olagunsoye Oyinlola as the national secretary of the PDP  and Bode Mustapha  as  national auditor in early...
www.funmiboimostboss@gmail.com

Don Jazzy Reacts To The BamBam And Teddy A Sex Video #BBNaija

-
Image
Big Brother Naija Housemates, Teddy A and Bam-Bam threw the internet in a frenzy after they were caught on camera having intercourse in the toilet. Many Nigerians have since reacted in different ways to the private session which they had in the Wii hours of the night in the Big Brother Double Wahala house. Famous music producer, Don Jazzy also joined the bandwagon as he recently mocked the lovers for their special moment in the house. In a recent post, the talented producer was seen dancing in the toilet and singing “watabambam” He later justified his action, stating that he wasn’t judging the couple but just fooling around. He said: “I’m not even judging. Last last body is not fire wood o. U never use toilet before??? Cast the first stone " The housemates were captured by the cameras having sex in the toilet early this morning, and it came barely a day after Teddy A denied accusations by other housemates that they were among the couples having sex i...
www.funmiboimostboss@gmail.com