By Peter Usman
Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCDA has proposed an expenditure framework of N271.532 Billion for the 2018 fiscal year.
The FCT Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello, made the disclosure on Tuesday at a Budget session with the Senate Committee on FCT.
According to the Minister, the figure shows an increase of N49.171billion over that of 2017 which was N222. 360billion.
In his presentation, the Minister gave a breakdown of the sectorial allocations which showed the highest allocation to Capital Expenditure, with N154.232 billion representing 56.8 percent of the total estimate.
Overhead cost came second with N61billion or 22.5 percent, while Personnel were estimated to cost N56 billion representing 20.68 percent of the total budget.
The increase, Bello explained was based on the expected higher revenue generation by the FCT following the take-off of the FCT Internal Revenue Service, IRS and expected increased funds from the federation account.
The Minister revealed that the Administration would pay adequate attention to the completion of ongoing infrastructure projects to make the city more liveable. Consequently, N70 billion has been earmarked for this purpose.
In the same vein, N4.7Billion will go to on-going critical new infrastructure projects, while N21.1billion is proposed for ongoing as well as new infrastructure projects in satellite towns.
The amount of N37.96billion has been set aside for the Education Sector while the Health Sector allocated N22.8billion.
Other major expenditure areas include Resettlement & Compensation – N8.9billion and Transportation Sector – N20.5billion.
Of this amount, the Abuja Light Rail Project would gulp N12.3billion. Environment, Water and Agriculture sectors together have been allocated approximately N16.3Billion among others.
The Budget described as a balanced budget by the Minister, would be funded from the 1 percent of the 52.68 percent Statutory Allocation of the Federal Government from the Federation Account, Internally Generated Revenue; IGR and other sources as contained in the Fiscal Framework of the Federal Government.
In a brief remark, the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Dino Melaye, expressed delight at the remarkable improvement recorded in the Budget performance for the 2017 Fiscal year which showed a 62 percent level of accomplishment.
He congratulated the FCT Administration for the successful commissioning of the Abuja Rail Mass Transit System, while harping on the necessity for honesty, prudence and transparency in the management of government resources.
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/04/15/governance/nigeria-fcta-defends-n40-billion-2018-national-priority-budget-at-nass/
