The Federal Government has blamed the delay in the disbursement of support to local manufacturers on the need for the ministries of Finance and Budget/Economic Planning to improve the policy framework.

Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, stated this during a press conference at the 30th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) in Abuja.  Bagudu, represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Emeka Obi, said the ministry is concerned with the funds’ disbursement but needed to reach a common ground with the Ministry of Finance on the release of the funds.

“The efforts of the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning are to ensure that funds are disbursed to the manufacturers, who should receive them. Our role is coordinating and, in this role, we must partner with the Ministry of Finance. We have to build consensus and come up with a common strategy and policy framework that will be able to address the payments and any issue at the national level.”

It would be recalled that the Federal Government has at least, on three different occasions in the last 16 months, promised to support manufacturers and businesses with an intervention fund grant of N75 billion and a N100 million consumer credit fund scheme. None of these funds have been released to the manufacturers to date.