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2016 Budget: MDAs in Non-Implementation Mess

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By Dipo Olowookere

Barely one month to the implementation of the capital budget for 2016, several Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are yet to come to terms with the current economic recession by not implementing the capital budget to the letter and spirit of the 2016 Appropriation Act as passed by the National Assembly, Economic Confidential can report authoritatively.

Foremost among the Ministries is the Ministry of Budget and National Planning with the highest allocation of N1.14 trillion, having a capital vote of N404.86 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N142.40bn but nothing to show at the time of writing this report.

Recall that the capital budget is more than the total budget for Agriculture, Health, Youth and Sports combined!

Facts reaching Economic Confidential reveals that the department of Monitoring and Evaluation of the ministry have been busy inspecting almost completed projects initiated by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, while those initiated by the current administration are yet to take off, says an official who pleaded anonymity, despite the fact that they were captured in the 2016 budget Act.

Other Ministries who have shown lacklustre attitude to the implementation of the capital projects for 2016 budget are Ministry of Interior with a whopping N513.65 billion and N61.71bn for capital projects and a recurrent expenditure of N451.94bn.

As for Interior Ministry, no appreciable progress has been made as what goes on there is business as usual. This is closely followed by the ministry of Education with N480.27bn, and a capital budget of N35.43bn and a recurrent expenditure of N444.84bn.

Even though arrangements were made in the 2016 appropriation Act to settle the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the respective federal government Universities are yet to receive such monies, thereby paving way for imminent industrial action by the universities lecturers, which had in the past paralyzed the educational system in the country.

The same cannot be said about the ministry of Power, Works and Housing as it has followed up with project initiation and implementation.

With a budget of N456.93 billion for 2016 and a capital allocation of N422.96 billion, the ministry has embarked upon several projects, which if completed, would impact positively on the lives of Nigerians, notably the roads.

The Ministry of Defence is rated number five in the allocation of 2016 budget as it garnered a total of N443.07bn with a capital budget of N130.86 bn.

The ministry has been grappling with projects in the three formations of the armed forces, namely the Army, Navy and the Air Force as the releases are not coming as and when due.

Health Ministry is number six in the allocation of budget for 2016 with N250bn.

With the much mouthed taking care of maternal and child mortality, HIV/AIDS pandemic and Primary Health Care across the country, a capital allocation of N28.65billion was granted to the ministry.

Apart from the current rehabilitation of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja which had prompted the redirection of all flights to Kaduna, no meaningful projects have been embarked upon by the Ministry of Transportation.

Meanwhile, a total budget of N202.34bn was allocated in 2016 with a capital expenditure of N188.67bn and a recurrent of N13.66bn.

The Ministry becomes number seven in the highest allocation for 2016. The office of the National Security Adviser where all security pools are hosted had a total budget of N88.87bn with a capital allocation of N32.08bn, becomes the number eight of all MDAs with a recurrent expenditure of N56.79bn.

Findings equally show that no meaningful project has been embarked upon by the office as far as budget implementation is concerned. Agriculture, Youth and Sports each have a budget of N75.97bn and N75.47bn respectively.

They are tagged numbers 9 and 10. While the capital allocation for Agric Ministry stands at N46.17bn, the youth and Sports counterpart has N4.66bn, with a recurrent of N70.81 bn.

The ministry that has the least allocation is Special Duties with N65 million for 2016 and designated at the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

It has no capital vote for 2016. Economic Confidential recalls that the thrust of the 2016 budget was the recovery and revitalization of the economy to take it out of recession, but the activities of most MDAs are a far cry from what is envisaged.

http://economicconfidential.com/2017/02/budget-2016-mdas-implementation/

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan. Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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Economy

MRS Oil, FrieslandCampina Wamco Shrink NASD Index by 0.68%

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MRS Oil voluntary delisting

By Adedapo Adesanya

The duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.

MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.

As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.

The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.

Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.

When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.

GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.

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Economy

NGX Index Rebounds 0.15% on Renewed Interest in Financial Stocks

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Financial Stocks

By Dipo Olowookere

Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.

Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.

This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.

The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.

On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.

Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.

Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.

At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.

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Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,362/$1 at Official Market

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Naira 4 Dollar

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.

However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.

For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.

The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.

Heightened global uncertainty has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.

As for the cryptocurrency market, prices remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.

Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.

Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and  Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.

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