The Federal Government has disbursed the sum of N43.416 billion (about $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.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this in a statement signed by the Ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr. Hassan Dodo on Wednesday.
According to the minister, the 24 beneficiary states who met the eligibility criteria are Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe States.
She 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 for 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).
The minister also said that that the SFTAS programme, which was established by the Federal Government with the concessional loan of $750 million to support states through the provision of performance-based grants 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) was wholly-financed with $750 million loan from the International Development Association (IDA), a member of the World Bank Group.
She stated: “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”.
Ahmed listed the Eligibility Criteria (EC) that states had to meet in order to be eligible to receive any grants as including online publication of the approved annual budget, audited financial statement for the previous year; and the DLIs that eligible states receive grants for achieving, improved financial reporting and budget reliability; increased openness and citizens’ engagement in the budget process.
Others are, improved cash management and reduced revenue leakages through implementation of State Treasury Single Account (TSA); strengthened Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collection; biometric registration and Bank Verification Number (BVN) used to reduce payroll fraud amongst others.
