Why Are Funds For The Budget Capital Projects Yet To Be Released Seven Months Into The New Year?

By Ewah Chika.

When the APC and president Muhammadu Buhari were busy campaigning throughout the country during the general elections in April last year, they party was not lacking in promises as several impossible things were promised the gullible Nigerians who were griped by poverty at the time.



Fast forward to July 2016 and it is 14 months since the party took over power from the PDP and seven months into 2016, yet funds are yet to be released for capital projects in the country's budget .

This has resulted in untold hardship experienced by the people as unemployment is not only soaring high but also retrenchment the order of the day. Nigerians first got a glimpse of what will happen in the new year when it took five months to pass the budget with the ministry of budget and senate committee on appropriation competing in the falsification of budget  figures and padding to maximise their personal gain. The president who parades himself as an anti-corruption crusader in the day and an agent of corruption at night did not publicly disclose the names of the ugly  offenders and nor did it prosecute them as their names remain a secret with Nigerians deceived that they were redeployed  to other ministries and parastatals.

"No new project is ripe for any capital release because of the six months of procurement process."

This was the reason the Budget minister Senator Udo Udo Udoma gave for the shameful failure of the government to execute  capital projects as captured in the N6.06 trillion 2016 budget. The question that should be asked is if these projects are yet to be executed in July, and the government is waiting for six months before funds are released, does it now mean the project will be termed that of 2016 or 2017? Do these politicians actually think Nigerians are fools and those with little memory or people that cannot fathom simple logic? In the government's first one year it was busy blaming the previous administration for all of it's problems including low rainfall in the rainy season and since it became apparent that it was  no longer accepted it (APC) turned to the use of propaganda and fallacies. How else can all government ministries and parastatals be complaining of no fund to carry out even recurrent expenditures which has never been the case.

The government of president Buhari should continue their self deceit as Nigerians watch with their hands folded, but one thing they should know is that Nigerians are no longer fools.