Governor Nasir El-Rufai has pledged the vigorous implementation of Kaduna State’s 2021 budget to deliver on the government’s promises. The governor alao said 98% of capital budget implementation was recorded in the 2019 budget of the state El-Rufai said: “It is my privilege today to sign the 2021 Budget of the Kaduna State Government into law as passed by the Kaduna State House of Assembly. I thank the House of Assembly for consistently passing the next year’s budget way ahead of the end of the preceding financial year,’’ he said.

El-Rufai affirmed that the implementation of the 2021 Budget will begin on January 1, 2021, adding that “this is an unprecedented achievement. We are the only government that has for years without fail started its budget on 1st January.” The governor attributed this consistency to the hard work of officials of the state government who prepare the budget and the dedication and commitment of the members and leadership of the Kaduna State House of Assembly. The governor explained that the Kaduna State government has pressed ahead with its comprehensive programmes to develop and modernise infrastructure despite the negative impact and slowdowns caused by COVID-19. According to him, “even with this pandemic, Kaduna State has continued to make huge strides in infrastructural development as well as expanding on our health system, to deal with this kind of emergencies.’’ El-Rufai added that his focus will be on improving infrastructure, strengthening health sector resilience and making lives better in the state in 2021.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed who disclosed this in a statement signed 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 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). Mrs. Ahmed explained that the SFTAS Programme was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria with the concessional loan of USD750 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) i.e. 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.

Furthermore, the Minister gave highlights of : 1) the Eligibility Criteria (EC)that States have to meet in order to be eligible to receive any grants: the online publication of the approved annual budget and audited financial statement for the previous year; and 2) the DLIs that eligible States receive grants for achieving:improved financial reporting and budget reliability; increased openness and citizens’ engagement in the budget process; 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. Others are improved procurement practices for increased transparency and value for money; strengthened public debt management and fiscal responsibility framework; improved clearance/reduction of stock of domestic expenditure arrears; and improved debt sustainability.

The fund is through a performance-based grant under the World Bank-Assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme-for-Results. SFTAS is wholly-financed with a loan of $750 million from the International Development Association (IDA), a member of the World Bank Group.

This new policy is being implemented with a view to further improve service delivery at all MDAs, the state’s digital economy and e-governance initiatives, social and financial inclusion, and much more, to the benefits of our dearest residents,’’ he argued. To achieve 100% enrolment of Kaduna State Residents into the National Database in the nearest future, Dr Tsiga said that there will be additional enrolment centres in all the 255 wards in Kaduna state. The Executive Secretary added that the model Primary Health Care Centres will be used for the exercise in addition to the current 73 enrolment centers across the State. He further remarked that ‘’the State, through its Residents Registration Agency (KADSRRA), plans to begin the distribution of the State Residents Card in the first quarter of this year,’’, adding that the card ‘’ seeks to eliminate the need for multiple ID cards across various use cases in the State. Some key examples of such cards include hospital, university, and employee ID cards.‘’ Dr Tsiga clarified that only residents ‘’who have an NIN, with a valid Kaduna state residential address, will be issued a State Residents Card. This is to ensure that the data of our residents is only collected once. ‘’Residents who have obtained their NIN using an address of another state, and now reside in Kaduna, are required to visit any enrolment center to update their NIN with their current Kaduna address in order to get a State Residents Card,’’ he clarified. He recalled that KADSRRA has been ‘’working closely with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), since this administration came into office in 2015.’’ Tsiga added that the working relationship is ‘’to foster the orderly development of an Identity Sector in order to build a modern Identity Management System for Nigeria, while specifically expediting enrolment of Kaduna State Residents into the National Identity Database (NIDB).’’

According to the State Coordinator- SDGs, Hajiya Aisha Mohammed “Need Assessments were conducted across the three senatorial zones with a view to identifying the underserved communities and based on the resources available 30 projects were awarded under the Education Sector while 27 projects were also awarded under Health Sector. The projects were awarded in December 2019 with a timeline of eight weeks. All the projects were successfully delivered by the contractors in 2020 and accordingly, the projects were handed over to the Ministry of Health and Education to commission for the benefits of the communities. Communities.

She also addede that the central goal is to achieve inclusive socio-economic growth and transformation that would translate into substantial improvement in the quality of life of the people.