Fagbemi: Delayed Funds Releases Hampers 2023 Budget Performance

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The  Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,  Lateef Fagbemi, has said delayed releases of funds affected the 2023 budget performances.

For instance, he said his ministry only got releases for Capital expenditure in the 2023 budget on the 1st of December 2023, less than 30 days to the end of the fiscal year.

The minister stated this yesterday, when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.

He said the ministry was allocated N3,321,283.533.00 as Capital Budget and N4,688,847,054.00 as Recurrent Budget in  the outgoing budget cycle for 2023

He said with less than 30 days to the end of the financial year, the ministry has only had releases of N617,456,896.00 for capital expenditure and N2,734,110,775.62 for recurrent expenditure.

Continuing, the minister said the foregoing had greatly constrained the performance of the ministry in its mandate areas, adding that they were determined to achieve a paradigm shift in 2024, wherein the ministry, has been allocated N5,341,356,849.00 as capital expenditure and N8,860,880,311.10 as recurrent expenditure in the 2024 budget proposal.

“From my firsthand assessment of the justice sector upon assumption of office, it is obvious to me that a major challenge in the sector is underfunding.

“This critical sector requires significant investments for us to drive the much-needed legal and judicial reforms, achieve satisfactory compliance with human rights, democratic governance, the rule of law, etc,” he said.

The committee, chaired by Senator Muhammed Tahiru Munguno, asked rhetorically whether the budget has failed and should be pushed forward to the 2024 Budget as there was no way capital projects could be executed in less than 30 days to the end of 2023.

Mongonu said the meeting was to ask the minister to review the 2023 budget in line with the constitutional responsibility of  the parliament.

He said the Committee would  work with the office of Attorney General to review the laws of the federation, because laws were not supposed to be static.

“They are supposed to be organic that supposed to change with the changing society. Laws are organic and not supposed to be static. Most of our laws are obsolete hence the senate is to work closely with the office of the AGF to review our laws that are outdated or repealed,” the senator added.