By Benjamin Umuteme Abuja
The federal government is proposing to spend N5.753 billion on rehabilitation and repairs of fi xed assets in the State House. This was captured in line item 2303 of the proposal. Figures obtained by Blueprint from 2018 budget estimates currently before the National Assembly, have revealed. Similarly, the Presidency is also proposing to spend another N5.753 billion on general rehabilitation and repairs of fixed assets which is captured in line item 230301.
The sum total of the cost of these repairs comes to N11.506billion A breakdown shows that N284.587 million would be spent on rehabilitation and repairs of residential building on line item 23030101 in 2018, even as it planned to spend N42.628 million and N5.428 billion on rehabilitation and repairs (housing), rehabilitation and repairs of office buildings on line item 23030103 and 23030121 respectively. Of the sum, an estimate of N1, 097, 882,046 billion and N1, 097, 882,585 billion are proposed to be spent on fixed assets purchased on line item 2301 and general purchase of fixed assets on line item 230101.
The figures are part of a budget estimate of N8.61 trillion being proposed by the Executive for the fiscal year. Presenting the budget of ‘consolidation’ before the NASS, President Muhammadu Buhari had said, government would focus on infrastructure development.
The president’s proposal for the 208 budget represents a 16 percent increase from the 2017 budget estimates. Aggregate expenditure comprising recurrent expenditure will be N3.494 trillion; debt service N2.014 trillion; statutory transfers N456 billion; sinking fund N220 billion; and capital expenditure N.428 trillion. If passed, the budget is expected to result in a deficit of N2.005 trillion, which is about 1.77 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Other key capital projects Key capital spending allocations in the 2018 Budget include: Power, Works and Housing: N555.88 billion; Transportation: N263.10 billion; Special Intervention Programmes: N150.00 billion; Defence: N145.00 billion; Agriculture and Rural Development N118.98 billion; Water Resources: N95.11 billion; Industry, Trade and Investment: N82.92 billion; Interior: N63.26 billion; Education N61.73 billion; Universal Basic Education Commission: N109.06 billion; Health: N71.11 billion, Federal Capital Territory: N40.30 billion; Zonal Intervention Projects N100.00 billion; North-east Intervention Fund N45.00 billion; Niger Delta Ministry: N53.89 billion; and Niger Delta Development Commission: N71.20 billion.
Agriculture The case was not much diff erent from the estimates for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Our correspondent also noted that out of the N118.98 billion being proposed by the Ministry in 2018, N2.6 billion will be spent on training and empowerment in agricultural produce for value addition in selected locations nationwide. This is captured in code ERGP5115101. Officials of the ministry are further proposing to spend N1.078 billion on promotion and development of Sasame/ Acha value chain, a new project captured in code ERGP 30105197.
Similarly, another N1. 045 billion is expected to be spent on promotion and development of fi sheries and aquaculture value chain with code ERGP30105133 of the ministry’s budget for 2018. Not done, the ministry headed by Audu Ogbeh will spend another N927.54 million on promotion and development of popular staple crop cassava value chain captured in code ERGP30105160. Also, promotion and development of castor seed is expected to gulp N371.84 million under the same fi scal year as captured in code ERGP30105134. Meanwhile, N31.25 million is been proposed for miscellaneous expenses with another N20.39 million to be spent on welfare packages, which is captured in Codes 220210 and 22021008, respectively.
