The Federal Government of Nigeria has distributed the total sum of N123.348 billion to state governments in the second round of performance-based grants under the States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this in a statement issued by Mr. Hassan Dodo, the Ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, on Wednesday in Abuja.
She explained that the disbursement was as a result of the achievements of the states in the recently concluded Annual Performance Assessment (APA).
According to Mrs. Ahmed, the disbursement included N91.048 billion of performance-based grants for the APA results achieved by 32 Eligible States across various Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) covering fiscal transparency, accountability, expenditure efficiency, revenue mobilization and debt sustainability.
Thirty- two eligible states received these grants based on the number of results achieved at the end of the 2019 APA results. Sokoto State received the highest allocation which was N6.612 billion while Kano received the lowest amount of N1.710 billion.
“Bayelsa, Imo, Rivers and Zamfara States got zero allocation due to their inability to meet the 2019 eligibility criteria which required States to publish online approved annual budgets and audited financial statements within a specific timeframe,” the minister disclosed.
She further noted that the 2019 APA results were a significant improvement on the 2018 APA results where the total performance-based grants of N43.416 billion (USD120.6 million) were received by 24 Eligible States, demonstrating the substantial progress States have made on fiscal reforms.
Source: Today.ng
