The minister of budget and national planning, Senator Udoma Udo-Udoma, said on Tuesday that the era of automatic release of capital allocations in the annual budget was gone.
Henceforth, such releases would be based on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) meeting set performance indicators, he asserted.
Udoma, who disclosed this in Abuja, said this was part of a robust monitoring and evaluation framework developed by the ministry for effective monitoring of the 2016 budget implementation.
“We believe that with all these measures, we will succeed in turning the economic crisis into an opportunity to restructure and reposition our economy for growth and prosperity. In this way, we will deliver the economic change we promised Nigerians”, the minister said.
Mr. Udoma said the 2016 budget was designed to help in ameliorating economic challenges in the country, pointing that the document signals the determination of the administration to create a diversified economy that was no longer dependent on crude oil proceeds.
He further stated that the budget, which has an outlay of N6.06 trillion and capital expenditure of N1.79 trillion (29 per cent of total budget), was aimed at reflating the economy, creating jobs for Nigerian youths as well as supporting the vulnerable groups.
Udoma added that government was not only committed to strengthening the link between its plans and budgeting processes to ensure better implementation of projects and programmes, it was determined to achieve inclusive development.
