A statement signed by the Director of Information in the Ministry of Finance, Hassan Dodo, quoted the minister as saying that the sum was higher than the N1,219,471,747,443.00 total capital released for 2016.
“In the 2017 capital releases, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing received the highest allocation of N523,011,701,723.25, which was 33.10% of the total capital releases,” the statement said.
According to the minister, the sector also received the “highest releases in the 2016 capital budget, which was a total of N307,411,749,682.00, accounting for 25.21% of the 2016 capital budget.
“Defence and Security received the second highest capital releases of N197,596,016,072.02 (12.50%) in 2017, as against N77,532,885,729.00 (6.36%) total releases the sector received in 2016.
“Other sectors combined received a total of N485,734,440,498.61, which was 30.74% of the 2017 capital releases. In 2016, a total of N463,234,558,786.00 (37.99%) was disbursed to these sectors.”
Adeosun further said that the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the capital releases, despite economic challenges, adding that the sustained high allocations to key sectors was a reflection of the Federal Government’s commitment to infrastructure development in the country.
The minister said the Federal Government was working assiduously to attract private capital to complement government spending in these key areas.