The Federal Government has cleared over N2tn in outstanding capital budget obligations from the 2024 fiscal year, with a pledge to prioritise the timely release of 2025 capital funds.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, disclosed this on Thursday at a ministerial press briefing in Abuja, where he also declared that Nigeria is “open for business” to global investors on the back of improved economic stability.
“In the last quarter, we did pay contractors over N2tn to settle outstanding capital budget obligations. That is from last year,” Edun said. “At the moment, we have no pending obligations that are not being processed and financed. And the focus will now shift to 2025 capital releases.”
He stressed that government agencies must only commit to capital projects when funds have been duly authorised.
“Despite appropriation, it is when funds are made available and authorised for spending that government entities… should enter into binding commitments of government,” he added.
The minister pointed to positive macroeconomic indicators, including a trade surplus of over $4bn in the first quarter of 2025, export growth of 9.8 per cent, stable exchange rates, and foreign reserves at $39bn in July.
He attributed these gains to the administration’s policy direction under President Bola Tinubu, which, according to him, has created “stable macroeconomic conditions against which people can plan and they can invest.”
Edun highlighted fiscal reforms such as halting the unauthorised use of Ways and Means advances from the Central Bank, which he said had reduced the debt-to-GDP ratio from 52.1 per cent to 38.8 per cent following GDP rebasing.
“There have been no debits to Ways and Means since early in this administration,” he noted, adding that gross revenues in the first half of 2025 were 37.4 per cent higher than in the corresponding period of 2024.
