Uche Usim, Abuja
To encourage fiscal discipline, the Federal Government has disbursed N43,42 billion ($120.6 million) as performance-based grants to 24 eligible states on the basis of the results achieved in 2018 under the performance-based grant component of the World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme-for-Results, which is whollyfinanced with a loan of $750 million from the International Development Association (IDA), a member of the World Bank Group.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, who disclosed this in a statement issued by Mr. Hassan Dodo, the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, yesterday, in Abuja , explained that the disbursement followed the participation of the 24 eligible states in the recent Annual Performance Assessment (APA) carried out by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (OAuGF) as the Independent Verification Agent (IVA) in collaboration with a third party firm, JK Consulting Limited and the SFTAS Programme Coordination Unit (PCU).
Out of the total amount, Kaduna State achieved the highest number of results (nine) and got the highest share of N3.96 billion, while Katsina and Benue got the lowest amount of N540 million each.
The minister explained that the SFTAS programme was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria with the concessional loan of $750 million to support states through the provision of performance-based grants to states to the tune of $700 million, and technical assistance in the sum of $50 million to enhance their capacity to achieve the Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs), that is the programme results.
According to the statement, 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.