The Federal Government said last night that the 2019 Budget achieved 50 per cent performance with the release of N1.2 trillion for capital expenditure.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, stated this after the eight-hour Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at Aso Villa
She added that the revenue performance of the budget stood at 81 per cent as at the third quarter of the year, having realised N4.25 trillion.
She said that with the passage of the 2020 Budget due to go into effect on January 1, the 2019 budget had become a six months budget.
The minister was with Minister of Transportation Chibuike Amaechi; Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed; and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva.
Mrs Ahmed said: “in terms of revenue performance, the revenue performance prorated to third quarter of 2019 is N4.25 trillion and that represents a performance of 81 percent. That is to third quarter so its nine months pro rated not full year.
“The GDP growth that we planned for 2019 was 3.5 percent and the third quarter GDP performance was reported as 2.28 percent.
“On expenditure, we have been able to release all that is required for personnel so personnel expenditure is on course, debt service is also on course.
“So far as at last week, we have released up to N1.2 trillion in capital expenditure and that is a 50 percent performance of the capital for the year 2019.
“Now that Mr. President has assented to the 2020 budget, which is a major achievement for this government, it is clear that the 2019 budget is also a six month budget. So we have achieved a 50 per cent capital release for 50 per cent performance of the 2019 budget.
“We have also been able to pass through the National Assembly and the National Assembly has passed the Finance Bill of 2019. I believe that by today or tomorrow, the bill will be conveyed to Mr. President for his assent.
“We have started the process of the new long-term development plan, we prepared a road map, it is going to be subjected to various stakeholder reviews before we start the actual planning process”, she said.
Amaechi said the Ibadan to Kano rail project was expected to take off in January or February, depending on when the Chinese Exim Bank signs the contract.
He said the ministry had almost concluded plans for the purchase of waterways security equipment to reduce maritime crimes.
He said improvement was expected in the operations of the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan routes, with additional locomotives and coaches.
“On railways, we will be bringing in a DMU, which is diesel engine for Abuja-Kaduna. It will be eight coaches and two locomotives that will drive them. This is to reduce the pressure we have on the Abuja-Kaduna route.
“We provided coaches for only 300 passengers because that’s what we expected when we did the research, but now we are carrying 3,700 passengers. We are increasing the number of coaches. We believe that the President will commission eight new coaches and two new locomotives in January to carry passengers from Abuja to Kaduna and Kaduna to Abuja.
“We also reported that we believe that Lagos to Ibadan route should also be ready for inauguration before April. We’ve commenced trial-run on Lagos to Ibadan. The last time before tomorrow, we ran from Iju to Ibadan, by tomorrow we’ll start running from Agege to Ibadan. By the time we return from the holidays, we’ll be running from Ebutte-meta to Ibadan.
“We believe that we should have reached the seaport before April, this should reduce what you call the Apapa gridlock. We are finding solution to the Apapa gridlock.
“We also expect the China Exim Bank to approve the loan for Ibadan to Kano in January, if they do we expect that work should commence on Ibadan to Kano railway route in January or February next year.
Sylva said the ministry intended to open up the gas sector adding that there will be a lot of activities in the sector.
He also said that the Port Harcourt Refineries will commence operations in January.
“The ministry of petroleum had nine mandate areas. Today, we reported to council that we have achieved at least one of those mandate areas, which is the passage of the deep offshore amendment Act. We also reported that work is ongoing on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and that hopefully it will be passed into law by June next year.
“We also reported that next year we will open the gas sector and a lot will happen in the gas sector in Nigeria. Rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt Refinery will commence in January and hopefully 2020 will be a very busy year for the oil industry in Nigeria”, he said.
