Udoma pleads with lawmakers to maintain 30% capital project proposal

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma has pleaded with members of the National Assembly to ensure that 30 per cent of the 2016 budgetary provision is committed to capital projects. 

He said this was to avoid the 2015 budgetary mistake of committing only 10 per cent for such projects. The Minister was speaking when he appeared before the Joint Houses of the National Assembly to defend his ministry’s 2016 budget proposals. He added this was going to enable the present administration address most of the economic and infrastructural challenges confronting the nation. 

“We are in a challenging time, we want to use the 2016 budget as solutions to our economic problems, especially the 30 per cent capital allocation component in the budget, we want to move from the past administration’s faulty traditional ways of managing our economy without development strides." 

Udoma went on to say: “we are working hard to expand fully the nation’s revenues base away from oil base, government has set achievable targets to all revenues generating agencies, we must collect all revenues that is due and increase tax coverage areas. We have set Treasury Single Account that is blocking corruption loopholes and checking revenue leakages” 

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Budget, Planning and Economic Affairs, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, assured the minister that the committee will do justice on the budget and ensure that every naira budgeted will be utilized for the benefit of all Nigerians.