
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed Tuesday said the the Minister of Power,
Saleh Mamman did not include the N100 billion Mambilla power project in the submission made for the 2021 budget.
Ahmed made this explanation while answering questions from the James Faleke led-House of Representatives Committee on Finance when she apparered for budget at the National Assembly Complex for Abuja.
Ahmed told the lawmakers that: “the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning based on the MTEF that you have passed put in the cost cycler the budget ceiling for every Ministry.
“They are now expected to make their budget within that ceiling. The Ministry of Power didn’t have Mambilla in their submission. We do not provide programmes that go into budget for Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The Finance Minister disclosed that the Federal Government has made request to the Parliament for approval of US$1.2 billion loan from Brazilian Government to address issues in the agriculture value chain as the country moves towards other sources of revenue.
She also said government is making some provisions to acquire100,000 hectares of land per state for food production, adding that roads would be build in such locations to provide access for farmers to move their farm produce to markets to reduce post harvest losses.
On Police reforms, Ahmed said: “We are hoping that the review will be completed quickly enough so that while the appropriation process is going on the revised salaries are included in the 2021 budget. If it’s not completed we will contemplate doing amendment or supplementary budget”.
She insisted that the Federal Government was still bent on the use of
Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for the payment of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) members while their developed University Accountability and Transparency Solution (UTAS) undergoes verification by experts.

While presenting her Ministry’s budget for the 2021 financial year, the Minister said N1.647 billion is proposed for
personnel cost, N1.370 billion is for
overhead and N4.005 billion is allocated to capital expenditure.
Giving updates on the 2020 budget implementation (January-September) Ahmed stated that: “As at end of Q3 2020, FGN’s revenue available for budget funding (excluding GOES) was N2.83 trillion, 70% of target. FGN share of oil revenues was N1.203 trillion (representing 158% performance, over and above the prorated sum in the revised 2020 budget) while non-oil tax revenues totaled N927.47 billion (76% of revised target).
“Companies Income Tax (CIT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) collections were N486.68 billion and N137.03 billion, representing 79% and 64% respectively of the prorata revised targets for the period.Customs collections was N303.76 billion (78% of revised target).
Other revenues amounted to N69 7.75 billion, of which Independent revenues was N390.50 billion”.
To enhance Independent Revenue generation and collection, the Minister said, “Government will aim to optimize the potentials, operational and collection efficiency of GOES with a view to generating significantly higher revenues required to fund the FGN budget from this source.
“Current sub-optimal revenue performance of most GOES will be addressed through the effective implementation of the enhanced Performance Management Framework.
“The key elements of the reform initiative include Performance Contracts for Chief Executive Officers (CEOS) and key management staff, which will set financial indicators and targets for each
GOE.
“The cost-to-revenue ratio of GOES has by a Presidential directive been limited to a maximum of 60%-70%, while regular monitoring and reporting of revenue and expenditure performance of GOES will be undertaken by both the Budget Office of the Federation and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation”.
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