World Bank Invests $750m On Transparency, Accountability In States
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – In its avowed commitment to promote good governance and due process in Nigeria, the World Bank is releasing $750 million to strengthen transparency and accountability in 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Consequently, the Federal Government, has inaugurated the National Steering Committee (NSC) for the States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme-for-Results to review performances by States regarding their utilisation of the funds
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who dropped the hints in Abuja, said the Programme “is financed with the loan of USD750 million from the World Bank to support the States through the provision of performance-based grants.”
She explained that of the amount, USD700 million will be utilised for the programme with the balance of USD50 million deployed to finance technical assistance for States to achieve specified Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) towards qualification for the grants.
According to the Minister, “the DLIs are derived from the already established 22-Point Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) by the Federal Government and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments.”
Furthermore, she said the development is meant to strengthen “the desired fiscal reforms at the sub-national level and participation in the Programme is open to all States of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
Mrs Ahmed said the programme implementation is already on course with a fully-functional Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) domiciled in the Home Finance Department, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
She stated that the National Steering Committee (NSC) has the mandate of offering strategic direction to the PCU and ensuring the programme’s smooth implementation.
Speaking at the inauguration, Permanent Secretary, Special Duties of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. Aliyu Ahmed said the Federal Government introduced the Budget Support Facility (BSF) in the form of soft loans to assist the States in financing their capital budget.
He said apart from Lagos, all the States are participants and beneficiaries of the programme, noting that to realize the BSF programme set objectives, releases to the States were based on their fulfillment of 22 Point Action Plan targeted at strengthening their fiscal transparency, as well as improving revenue generation and management of expenditure.
Buoyed by the progress made with BSF, the Finance Ministry, partnered the World Bank to introduce the SFTAS Programme. And the 22 conditions under BSF, and parts of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments, now form the basis of Disbursement Link Indicators (DLIs) under SFTAS Programme.
Forefront gathered that to access the performance-based grant under the SFTAS Programme, participating States are expected to achieve the DLIs as contained in the programme documents.
