The federal government has disbursed N43, 416, 000, 000.00 to 24 states of the federation under the World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability, SFTAS, programme-for-results.
The minister of finance, budget and national planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this in a statement issued by the spokesman for the ministry, Mr. Hassan Dodo in Abuja yesterday.
Benefiary states are Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe States.
Kaduna State got the highest share of N3.960 billion, while Katsina and Benue got the lowest amount of N540 million each.
To be eligible to benefit from the fund, the minister said states have to show evidence of online publication of the approved annual budget and audited financial statement for the previous year.
According to the statement, the 24 states achieved improved financial reporting and budget reliability, increased openness and citizens’ engagement in the budget process, improved cash management and reduced revenue leakages through implementation of state treasury single account, strengthened internally generated revenue collection; biometric registration and Bank Verification Number (BVN) used to reduce payroll fraud.
Others are improved procurement practices for increased transparency and value for money; strengthened public debt management and fiscal responsibility framework; improved clearance/reduction of stock of domestic expenditure arrears; and improved debt sustainability.
The minister explained that those states declared ineligible for 2018 failed to publish their annual budgets and audited financial statements online within the time frame as stipulated by the SFTAS Programme Operation Manual (POM).
SFTAS is wholly-financed with a loan of $750 million from the International Development Association (IDA), a member of the World Bank Group.
Ahmed said the eligible states were selected on the basis of the results achieved in 2018 under the performance assessment.
She explained further that the disbursement followed the participation of the 24 eligible states in the recent annual performance assessment carried out by the office of the auditor-general for the federation as the Independent Verification Agent (IVA) in collaboration with a third party firm, JK Consulting Limited and the SFTAS Programme Coordination Unit (PCU).
The SFTAS Programme was established by the federal government with the concessional World Bank loan to support states to enhance their capacity to achieve the Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) which are the Programme results.
Under the programme, $700 million was for provision of performance-based grants to States and technical assistance in the sum of $50 million.
“The DLIs are derived from the country’s 22-Point Fiscal Sustainability Plan and the 14 Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments aimed at strengthening fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability across all states of the federation,” said Ahmed.
She reiterated that the World Bank-assisted SFTAS Programme was principally to strengthen fiscal management at the State level, so as to ensure effective mobilization and utilization of financial resources, to the benefit of their citizens in a transparent, accountable and sustainable manner, thereby reducing fiscal risks and encouraging a common set of fiscal behaviour.
She said the SFTAS programme couldn’t have come at a better time than now given the government’s dwindling revenue occasioned by oil price volatility and the current impact of COVID-19 which has further intensified the need for improved practices in fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability as enunciated in the SFTAS ideals.
