The Nigerian government has released N1.58 trillion as capital expenditure to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), from the 2017 budget.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun who disclosed this said the N1.58 trillion total capital releases for 2017 were higher than the N1.219 trillion total capital releases for 2016.

Mrs Adeosun said that in the 2017 capital releases, the Power, Works and Housing sectors received the highest allocation of N523 billion which was 33.10 per cent of the total capital releases.

“The sector received the highest releases in the 2016 capital budget, which was a total of N307.4 billion (25.21 per cent) of the 2016 capital budget. Defence and security sector received the second highest capital releases of N197.5 billion (12.50 per cent) in 2017, as against N77.5 billion (6.36 per cent) total releases the sector received in 2016,’’ she said.

She also revealed that Agriculture and Water Resources sector received N149.4 billion (9.46 per cent) in 2017, adding that the sector received N143.1 billion (11.74 per cent) of capital releases in 2016.

According to her,transportation sector received N126.2 billion (7.99 per cent) of the 2017 capital releases as against N171.9 billion (14.10 per cent) it received in 2016.

“Health and Education sectors together received N98.1 billion (6.21 per cent) for 2017 as against N56,270,030,992.00 (4.61 per cent) the sectors received in 2016.Other sectors combined received N485.7 billion, which was 30.74 per cent of the 2017 capital releases.In 2016, a total of N463.2 billion (37.99 per cent) was disbursed to these sectors,” she added.

Adeosun, however, said that in spite of the economic challenges in 2017, the Federal Government was able to fully cash-back the capital releases.

In addition, she said the sustained high allocations to key sectors were a reflection of the government’s commitment to infrastructure development in the country.

She also said that the Federal Government was working assiduously to attract private capital to complement government spending in these key areas.