• Buhari signs budget amendment bill to law
• ‘Nigeria earns $878m from crude oil lifting’
FUNDING for all capital projects provided for in the 2015 Budget will continue till March 31, 2016, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, has said.

Ita Enang, who confirmed the development in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja yesterday, said that his clarification became necessary in view of the fact that legislators, institutions and other concerned agencies had been contacting him to know the true status of the Act, which was forwarded to Buhari last week.

He said: “Further to several enquires and calls by legislators, institutions et al on the subject, we deem it appropriate to issue this release.

“His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, has assented to the 2015 Appropriation Amendment Act passed by the National Assembly on December 22, 2015, (extending the 2015 financial year to March 31st in respect of capital projects).”

In another development, Nigeria earned about $308.5 million from crude oil export in October, even as it lost about N56.6 billion to the menace of crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism during the period, going by the facts from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The latest edition of the NNPC monthly report released yesterday showed that a total volume of 70.31 million barrels of crude oil and condensate was lifted in October 2015 by all parties, adding that about 25.03 million barrels were lifted by the NNPC on behalf of the government.

“This comprises of 18.24 million barrels lifted on the account of NNPC while 6.09 million and 0.70 million were superintended for FIRS and DPR,” it stated.

The report also noted that of the 18.24 million barrels lifted on the account of NNPC in October 2015, 12.07 million barrels and 6.17 million barrels were for domestic and export markets.

Meanwhile, the continuous fall in the nation’s gross foreign exchange reserves has reached a year end low of 15.61 per cent compared to $34.52 billion from January 2015.

Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves, which declined to $29.13 billion yesterday, had in the year failed to either maintain its level at the beginning of the year or rise due to the country’s fall in foreign exchange earnings.

The fallen profile has also been attributed to several interventions by the monetary authority in the defence of the naira and mostly, the fall in the international price of crude oil.