THE Federal Government earmarked N3.33 trillion as capital expenditure for the presidency and 44 institutions, comprising its ministries and other agencies, in the proposed 2024 budget.
This amount represents 43.13 per cent of the total N7.72 trillion President Bola Tinubu-led government proposed for capital expenditure in 2024.
Capital expenditure is the fund used to build, maintain, acquire or upgrade capital assets like buildings, machinery or facilities.
On November 29, Tinubu presented the 2024 appropriation bill of N27.5 trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly. The proposed budget had a revenue inflow of N18.32 trillion and a deficit of N9.18 trillion.
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During the presentation, Tinubu said, “We expect the economy to grow by a minimum of 3.76 per cent, above the forecast world average. Inflation is expected to moderate to 21.4 per cent in 2024.
“In preparing the 2024 budget, our primary objective has been to sustain our robust foundation for sustainable economic development. A critical focus of this budget and the medium-term expenditure framework is Nigeria’s commitment to a greener future.”
The ICIR reported that while economic indication showed that the proposed budget might not drive economic development, borrowing to fund it could threaten the economy.
In Section ‘M’ of the budget document, the Federal Ministry of Works has the highest allocation, with N523.02 billion earmarked for capital projects. The Ministry of Finance follows it with N454.98 billion, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare gets N377.39 billion, and the Ministry of Defence takes N308.24 billion.
The proposed budget for the above four ministries amounts to N1.66 trillion. This is almost half (49.95 per cent) of the total N3.33 trillion allocated to the 44 ministries, agencies, and the president’s office.
Reviewing the budget, The ICIR’s check showed that some institutions’ allocations might be insufficient for critical interventions promised by the President.
These include poverty reduction, job creation, women’s inclusion and development. Further checks revealed that 11 ministries implementing capital projects in these sectors were allocated less than 100 billion each as capital expenditure.
Some of these ministries are the Ministry of Power, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
| Names of MDA | Proposed capital expenditure |
| MINISTRY OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION | 59,452,251,714 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT | 10,786,961,337 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY | 99,929,912,264 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION | 61,830,993,664 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF POWER | 72,612,496,687 |
| MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM RESOURCES | 5,872,270,789 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT | 96,996,742,133 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF NIGER DELTA DEVELOPMENT | 18,066,640,858 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF YOUTH | 3,222,760,037 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF WOMEN AFFAIRS | 7,602,142,164 |
| FEDERAL MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS, INNOVATION AND DIGITAL ECONOMY | 7,594,389,714 |
The Programme Coordinator at the Centre for Inclusive Social Development (CISD), Folahan Johnson, told The ICIR that the implication was that there would continue to be no improvement in the nation’s unemployment figures as, according to him, it was obvious that the resources allocated to improve it was ‘grossly’ inadequate.
He said poor resource allocation to the critical ministries implied the country expected poor service delivery in 2024.
“The challenges of poverty and unrest in the Niger Delta will also have implications on security. While I applaud the government for allocating resources to improve our security, which is a necessary basis for economic activities to go on smoothly, especially in volatile parts of the country due to insurgencies, one must do a comparative analysis of the cost of solving the challenges of poverty and how it breeds radicalisation and then leads to insecurity and necessitates high spending on defence, as against spending heavily on defence currently which is highly prone to corruption,” Johnson said.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at jameskennyogunyale@gmail or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames | LinkedIn: Kehinde Ogunyale