The Nigerian Senate has rated the Federal Government below par on the implementation of the capital component of the 2024 national budget.

The lawmakers, who gave the executive arm of government the low score on Wednesday, said there was a need for the government to get Ministries, Department and Agencies of the Federal Government to implement the budget satisfactorily.

The Upper Chamber also urged the government to intensify efforts in funding the capital components of the three national budgets which are running concurrently in the country.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Adeola who made the charge when the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, along with the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Oluwatoyin Madein, appeared before the panel over the budget performances.

“It is the capital component of the budgets that will showcase this government largely in terms of performances,” Adeola said while lamenting the poor funding of the capital components of the budgets.

“The capital components tend to showcase various projects that will be executed by this government and people can say, oh, the government is doing this, it’s doing that. That is why we are emphasising the performance of the 2024 capital component of the project.

“The N1.84bn achieved so far out of a N9tn capital expenditure component is nothing to write home about.

“I would want you to please look towards this direction. And I want you to do more engagement with the ministries and departments and agencies of the government.”

The Senator however, urged the Minister to engage more with the MDAs because most of them were not aware of the current arrangement regarding funding of capital projects.

“I tell you for free, some agencies will tell you that they have not been given any money for capital when we are fully aware that the process of payment of capital has changed.

“That shows a lot of engagement has to go on from time to time to bring it to their notice that you are no longer in charge of payment to contractors.

“I want you to please do a kind of continuous engagement. It will help so that everybody can come to terms that the system has changed.”

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has come under fire following accusations by the United Kwacha Alliance (UKA) Women’s Council that he has failed to eliminate nepotism in government offices.

The National Chairlady of the Council, Faith Muntali, who made the allegations at a press conference in Lusaka on Tuesday, said since 2022, experienced individuals had been losing their jobs due to favoritism towards relatives of government officials.

“This has caused concern in our nation as qualified and experienced people are losing their positions based on tribal lines,” Muntali said.

She further alleged that experienced and qualified citizens were being sidelined, intimidated, and mistreated because they did not belong to the preferred tribes in the country.

“President Hichilema, we call on you to uproot this tree of nepotism,” Muntali said.

She also challenged President Hichilema to review the details of employees in parastatal and public offices, including the names of the employees, date of employment or promotion, and the predecessor in the position.