The Nigerian government is yet to conclude talks with the legislature on the 2016 budget, but has set up a monitoring and evaluation mechanism to make sure that the budget delivers what it promised when finally signed by the President, an official said on Wednesday.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, gave the hint about the evaluation mechanism while briefing reporters after the Federal Executive Council’s meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He also said that plans were ongoing to ensure that the 2017 budget would begin on time, with a view to ensuring that the document would get to the National Assembly before the end of 2016.

Petrol Scarcity Causes

On the petrol crisis across the states, the worse the oil-rich nation has seen in years, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said some factors were responsible for the crisis.

The clearance of 600 billion Naira subsidy to marketers inherited from the past administration, logistics issues, dysfunctional refineries and sabotage by marketers were some of the factors, Dr. Kachikwu listed.

Dr. Kachikwu, however, told reporters that the government was doing everything possible to deliver fuel to all parts of the country in a few days.

The government had also said it was working hard to end the importation of petrol to Nigeria by 2019.

The Federal Executive council also admitted that power supply in the country had dropped from 5,000 megawatts to 3,000 megawatts due to vandalism of the Forcados pipeline that supplies gas to the power plants.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said that the Federal Government was working tirelessly to ensure that the lines are repaired.