Daily Watch – Buhari asks Planning Commission to prioritise capital expenditure, Modular building arrives Nigeria

4th August 2015

  • The Presidency has announced that President Muhammadu Buhari aims to cut recurrent expenditure in next year’s budget in order to prioritize development projects. Last year’s budget saw capital spending shrink to just 12 percent of total planned spending, as the budget was hinged at an oil price of $53 a barrel. Buhari said that the National Planning Commission “should devise a plan for a realignment of the budget so that capital projects can be really prioritized”.
  • Also on Monday, President Buhari said that his administration has taken efforts to recover looted Nigerian funds, a step further to include the identification of banks, financial institutions and countries in which payments for stolen Nigerian crude oil were deposited. According to the president, the administration is receiving cooperation from the international community, including information on ships that take crude oil from Nigeria and change direction, or pour their contents into other ships mid-stream. “Some monies were paid to individual accounts. We are identifying the financial institutions and countries that are involved,” President Buhari said.
  • Barclays Africa CEO Maria Ramos is looking to engaging with the Central Bank and other authorities in Nigeria, as she seeks to expand the bank’s footprint in the country. Ramos is integrating operations in 13 African countries as the bank sets its eyes on Nigeria, along with Egypt and Zimbabwe. “We have applied for licences in Nigeria. It’s something that we have been looking at for quite some time,” Ramos said.
  • Formwork System, a house building technology company known for its Modular Building System or Formwork Panels, which has been touted to be capable of reducing construction costs by 26 percent and increasing construction speed to about 60—90 days, is perfecting a partnership deal with Alpha Mead Development Company (AMDC). AMDC is deploying it in the development of its Lekki Pearl Estate—a mid-income community comprising 112 affordable housing units located in Lagos. The building technology has been hailed as the future of the building industry and the only hope for affordable housing in Nigeria.