Nigeria increases spending on capital projects: official

Nigeria has increased spending on capital projects, especially on infrastructure needed to make businesses competitive and create jobs, an official said Monday.

Presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu disclosed this in a statement made available to Xinhua in reaction to the current economic and financial challenges facing the country.

"Currently, there is focus on key sectors (apart from oil) that can create jobs and or generate revenue such as agriculture, solid minerals and manufacturing," the Presidential aide said.

He said if these things had been done when the oil price was as high as 140 U.S. dollars per barrel, Nigeria would not be in the current predicament.

"We would not be suffering now if we had no cash reserves, but we had regular supply of power, a good rail system, good roads and good housing," he added.

"Now that the oil has fallen as low as 28 dollars per barrel, it is very difficult to do what is needed but they must be done to save Nigeria," Shehu said.

According to him, the government is determined to enforce fiscal discipline across the states to check wasteful spending.

Shehu added that the economic and financial reform programs were not limited to the central authority alone, the state governments would be asked to reform their spending and build savings and investments.

Shehu said the reform would include blockage of leakages that allowed government's revenues to be siphoned into private hands.

He said the ongoing probe into the finances of the military authorities was part of the reform aimed at checking corrupt practices in the military establishment. Endit