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.