Nigeria’s Federal Government has pledged to enhance fiscal reforms at the sub-national level by maintaining cooperation with the states and International Development partners through initiatives such as the SFTAS Programme, supported by the World Bank.
The programme has introduced a lot of reforms that improved the way state governments manage governance and public finance.
This was stated by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, at the start of a four-day retreat with the theme “Creating a Resilient Economy through Diversification of the Nation’s Revenue,’’ organised by the FAAC in Asaba, Delta State.
Mr. Edun, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, in the Ministry, Mr. Okokon Udo, said in a statement by Ibrahim Mohammed, Communications Specialist, SFTAS Programm for Results, that the $1.5billion SFTAS Programme-for-Results, which ends in December 2023, has achieved remarkable results by all the 36 states in key areas.
The areas include fiscal transparency and accountability; domestic revenue mobilization; efficiency of public expenditures and debt sustainability.
“We hope and encourage the Sub-nationals to continue with these laudable reforms beyond the SFTAS period,” he said.
He emphasized that the Federal Government is committed to the fiscal and monetary reforms that the administration has started, which aimed to provide an enabling business environment, diversify the revenue base of the economy, create fiscal space for investment in critical infrastructure and ensure macroeconomic stability.
“Together, we shall collectively build a resilient economy for Nigeria,” he added.
The minister also disclosed that following the success story of SFTAS, the Federal Government in collaboration with the World Bank, had come up with another programme called ‘State Action on Business Enabling Reforms, SABER,’ which would run effectively from the year 2023 to 2025.
This programme aims at improving the business enabling environment of Nigeria’s states.
Other intervention programmes from the World Bank and other International Organisations would continue unabated,” he added.
