By Adeola Akinbobola
Some civil servants in Abuja have urged the Federal Government to release budgetary allocations to its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in order to improve service delivery.
They said lack of funds was hampering their determination to deliver on the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Tinubu Administration as well as their overall mandates.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that many MDAs have been unable to fully implement approved projects and programmes as funds were either delayed or not released.
The funding shortfall has affected both capital and recurrent expenditure, slowing the delivery of public services.
A study of statistics made available by the Budget Office of the Federation’s Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper 2025 showed that MDAs’ capital expenditure votes were persistently underfunded.
According to the report which covered 2023, 2024, and the January–July period of 2025 left a cumulative gap of N15.21tn over the three-year period.
Some civil servants who spoke with NAN on Tuesday expressed concern over the financial challenges confronting Federal Government institutions.
Mr Thomas Ugwu, a Director in the Finance Department in one of the MDAs said inadequate funding had adversely affected operations and service delivery.
According to him, office equipment, including staff buses, frequently break down, while the offices lack the funds to repair them.
Also, Mrs Rukayat Olaiya, a senior civil servant in procurement unit, said funding for capital projects had remained particularly poor.
Mr Kelechi Akwa, another civil servant, said releases for recurrent expenditure had also come under pressure.
Akwa said the situation had forced many agencies to operate mainly on limited overhead allocations.
He further said that monthly cash-backed releases for capital projects were frequently delayed.
Akwa said numerous infrastructure and development projects had stalled, while contractors continued to await payment for completed and ongoing jobs.
The funding challenges recently prompted local contractors to stage a protest over unpaid obligations.
NAN reports that contractors, under the umbrella of the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN), recently decried the growing impact of delayed budget implementation on businesses and employment.
The President of AICAN, Mr Jackson Nwosu, who led the protest at the Ministry of Finance, warned that the association might be compelled to take further action if the outstanding payments were not settled.
NAN recalls that earlier in the year, the Federal Government directed MDAs to roll over 70 per cent of their 2025 capital budgets into the 2026 fiscal year.
The decision was aimed at prioritising the completion of ongoing projects amid revenue constraints and competing fiscal demands.
The Federal Government also indicated that only 30 per cent of the 2025 capital budget would be released during the 2025 fiscal year.
The ministries and agencies disclosed that they received only a fraction of their capital allocations in 2025.
For instance, the Ministry of Women Affairs received N394.8 million, representing 0.44 per cent of its approved capital budget of N89.8 billion.
The Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy received N202 million, representing about 1.7 per cent of its N353 billion capital budget.
The Ministry of Transportation received N2.5 billion, representing about one per cent of its approved N256.7 billion capital budget.
The Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development received N2 billion, representing about two per cent of its N100 billion capital budget.
Similarly, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources received N1 billion, representing about 1.5 per cent of its N80 billion capital budget, while the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security received N3 billion out of its N120 billion capital budget.
An economist, Mr Dotun Olajide, said that although the Federal Government’s revenue had improved, a significant portion was being absorbed by debt servicing obligations and the rising cost of governance.
He said this had left limited fiscal space for capital expenditure and the operations of MDAs.
Olajide said unless capital releases improved, the pace of infrastructure development and public service delivery would remain significantly constrained.
Mr Bawa Mokwa, Director of Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAGF), told NAN that MDAs would soon receive clarification on the status of their monthly subventions.
He said the matter was being verified with the department responsible for releasing the funds.
“I will have to confirm that with the department responsible for releasing the funds,” he told NAN.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited Uche Anunne