The Federal Government has promised that disbursement of the last tranche of the $1.5bn World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme, will be received by state governments within the next few weeks.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, made this disclosure during an event organized by her ministry and other agencies in Abuja to appraise the achievements of the SFTAS Programme so far.
The minister recalled that since inception, the SFTAS programme had enjoyed a high level of political visibility, and recorded strong performance and demonstrable high level of ownership by States and Non-state Actors.
She explained: “There is no gainsaying the fact that over the years, SFTAS has achieved its set objectives and recorded significant milestones in improved fiscal transparency and accountability; increased domestic revenue mobilisation; increased efficiency in public expenditure; and strengthened debt management in line with the already imbibed ideals.
“It is my strong belief that with the resounding success recorded, especially the wholesale adoption of the SFTAS Charter by all the 36 State Governors here present, the programme ideals already entrenched in the fiscal governance space at sub-national level would continue to enjoy a place of pride in the conduct of fiscal governance, even in the absence of any further fiscal incentives.
“I am pleased to inform you that in the next few weeks, your States will receive the last tranche of performance-based grants including the sum of N1bn withheld by the Central Bank through Naira exchange deficit, thus bringing to a close, the Performance for Results Grant even though the technical assistance component will continue to be delivered by implementing agencies and partners till June 2023, when the programme will finally wind down”, the minister added.
The SFTAS Programme (2018-2022) was approved by the World Bank in June 2018 to support states’ efforts to enhance fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability at sub-national level.
The programme commenced with Federal Government’s concessional loan of $750 million from the World Bank as part of efforts towards the implementation of fiscal reforms at the sub-national level over a period of four years (2018-2022).
The original $750m loan from the World Bank comprised two components, namely the performance-based grants from the Federal Government to states for achieving the Annual Eligibility Criteria and the Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs), which reflect the programme results.
SFTAS, which seeks to encourage states to significantly improve outcomes in four key areas, including Fiscal Transparency and Accountability; Strengthen Domestic Revenue Mobilisation; Increase Efficiency in Public Expenditure and Strengthen Debt Sustainability, is designed to provide performance–based grants and technical assistance to them to implement the 22-point Fiscal Sustainability Plan and the Open Government Partnership.
Out of the $1.5bn released by the World Bank in two tranches of $750m each, the sum of N351.65bn had been disbursed to states that met the Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs).
The World Bank Country Director Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, and Governors of Ekiti, Edo, Jigawa, Sokoto, and Ebonyi, were among other dignitaries that attended the ceremony.
