States Receive $1.5bn from FG via SFTAS
The 36 States of the Federation and Abuja have received not less than $1.5 billion from the federal government via the States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability, SFTAS, Programme.
The National Programme Coordinator(NPC) of SFTAS Mr. Stephen Okon, stated this at a workshop organized for business journalists in Abuja.
According to the NPC, the objective of SFTAS is among other things to” instil a common set of fiscal behaviour and standards in the States and encourage widespread adoption of good practices in fiscal and public financial management across the States while respecting their fiscal autonomy.
He said It will also Strengthen fiscal transparency by improving overall budget transparency and accountability to help build trust in government, enhance the monitoring of fiscal risks and facilitate accountability in public resource management.
He noted that the SFTAS will Improve accountability through deployment of such measures as BVN in the Payroll Systems and implementation of Treasury Single Accounts to minimize leakages in the system and promote efficiency in resource management.
Other objectives are: to Improve procurement practices to enhance value for money and reduce opportunities for corruption and misuse of public resources, thereby increasing efficiency of public expenditure, and strengthen Fiscal sustainability through increased efficiency in spending, strengthened revenue mobilization and debt sustainability to prevent further fiscal crises and enhance the fiscal space for productive spending aimed at supporting growth and public service delivery.
He said the Federal Government took a concessional loan of US$750 million from the World Bank to enhance implementation of fiscal reform at the sub-national level over a period of four years (2018-2022).
According to him, SFTAS is a World Bank-assisted Programme for Results (PforR), with a system of performance-based grants to states, conditional upon meeting certain criteria and achieving some specified indicators.
“The NPC explained that the original $750 million loan comprised two components: the performance-based grants from Federal Government to States ($700 million) for states achieving the Annual Eligibility Criteria and the Disbursement Linked Indicators, DLIs, i.e. the Program results”, he said.
He added that the DLIs were based on the critical reforms in the 22-point (Fiscal Stability Plan (FSP) and the Open Government Programme, OGP, commitments.
According to him, “it included the technical assistance ($50 million) to states to enable them achieve the DLIs and ensure no state was left behind.
“However, to receive performance-based grants, states have to achieve actual results, which are independently verified by the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation and an external audit firm.”
The programme was aimed at providing support for achieving reform actions set out in the FSP and the Nigeria (OGP) National Action Plan towards promoting fiscal transparency and accountability, strengthening domestic revenue mobilization, increasing efficiency in public expenditure, strengthening debt transparency and sustainability as well as enhancing COVID-19 fiscal response in states.
“On a general note, the World Bank assisstance was intended to help build trust in government, enhance the monitoring of fiscal risks and facilitate accountability in public resource management, thereby reducing the opportunities for corruption and misuse of public resources.
He said the grant has “increased fiscal transparency and accountability through improved quality, timeliness and transparency of atate annual budget, including public consultation /citizen engagement towards enhancing budget credibility.
“Timely preparation and publication of annual state audited financial statements and quarterly implementation reports, as well as enhanced accountability of funds in COVID-19 response and resilient recovery phases,” he added.
