From the 2013 Budget, the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) funds of N231.19 billion out of a total of N273.5 billion will go to the Ministry of Works, Ministry of transport and Ministry of Niger Delta affairs.
Basically, from the SURE-P budget this year, N93.5 billion was carried over from last year while N180 billion is the actual allocation for 2013.
The programme originated from the partial removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government in January 2012, and is aimed at conserving and maximising the oil wealth.
According to the sharing formular, the Federal Government takes 41 per cent of the savings while the States and Local government share the remaining 59 per cent.
According to the breakdown of the 2013 SURE-P Budget, works is getting the lion’s share of N111.50 billion followed by transport for rail project which amounted to N77.42 billion, while the East-West Road in the Niger Delta was allocated N42.27 billion.
Similarly, social safety nets are also getting a total of N40.83 billion SURE-P funds, broken down as maternal & child health (N16.91 billion); public works for youth empowerment (N6.10 billion); vocational training centres (8.6 billion), and culture and tourism (0.22million).
The projects captured under works are Abuja-Lokoja Road (N25 billion), Benin-Ore-Shagamu Road (N13 billion), Section 1-5 of Kano-Maiduguri Road dualisation (N31.50 billion), and Port Harcourt-Enugu-Onitsha Road (|N7 billion). Others are Second Niger Bridge (counterpart funding) N7 billion; Owete Bridge (N10 billion), and other road projects in the six geo-political zones (N18 billion).