From Uche Usim, Abuja
State Governors involved in the World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme for Results (PforR) are eagerly awaiting the release of the final tranche of the grant by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The four-year SFTAS Programme (2018-2022) was approved by the World Bank in June 2018 and commenced in May 2019 to galvanise states into imbibing fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability.
It was designed to provide performance–based grants and technical assistance to participating states to implement the 22-point Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) and the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
So far, N471.9 billion have been disbursed in two tranches to the participating states.
Speaking at a dinner/award night in Abuja on Monday night to celebrate the success of SFTAS and recognise best performing States in the successive Annual Performance Assessments, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, urged the States to “expect credit alerts in the next few weeks for the last tranche of the performance-based grants; including N1 billion withheld by the Central Bank through naira exchange deficit; thus bringing to a close, the Performance for Results Grant even as the technical assistance component will continue to be delivered by implementing agencies and partners till June, 2023 when the programme will finally wind down”.
She said SFTAS has achieved its set objectives and recorded significant milestones in improved fiscal transparency and accountability; increased domestic revenue mobilization; increased efficiency in public expenditure; and strengthened debt management in line with the already imbibed ideals.
“These good practices include preparation of citizen-based budgets, timely preparation and publication of Annual Budget and Audited Financial Statement as well as adoption of National Chart of Account amongst other Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs).