Economy
FG Secures $750m World Bank Loan to Finance State Programs
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Federal Government has obtained a $750 million World Bank credit facility to finance the Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and sustainability programmes of 36 states of the Federation.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed who disclosed this on Tuesday, said that $700 million of the money would be to support the states through the provision of performance-based grants.
She explained that the balance of $50 million is for the financing of technical assistance to enable the States to achieve specified Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) towards qualification for the grants.
She further explained that the DLIs are derived from the already established 22-Point Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) by the Federal Government and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments.
The Minister made these remarks while formally inaugurating the National Steering Committee for the States Fiscal, Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme-for-Results in Abuja.
According to her, the Programme was introduced in 2017 by the Federal Government in collaboration with the World Bank to strengthen Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability in the Nigerian States.
“The DLIs are derived from the already established 22-Point Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) by the Federal Government and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments.
“This is aimed at strengthening the desired fiscal reforms at the sub-national level and participation in the Programme is open to all States of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)”, Ahmed noted.
Stressing the importance of the programme to the Government, the minister enjoined all the stakeholders involved to be fully committed to ensure its success.
She said, “It is gratifying to note that the implementation of the Programme has commenced in earnest with a fully-functional Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) domiciled in the Home Finance Department, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
“This underscores the need for the National Steering Committee to be brought on board in order to support the PCU to accelerate the pace of Programme implementation.
“As you are aware, the National Steering Committee (NSC) is expected to give strategic direction to the PCU and ensure the smooth implementation of the Programme. I commend the commitment demonstrated so far by the World Bank team, the PCU, the implementing Agencies and Partners”.
According to the Minister, the key roles and responsibilities of the Committee include, to review the progress in the implementation of the Programme; the status of disbursements to States; the status of PCU’s monitoring and evaluation, communication and outreach activities, including the publication of the Annual Performance Assessment (APA) results.
Others are, to review the status of delivery of the capacity building programme across the States by implementing agencies and partners; to provide strategic guidance for the Programme; and any other activities that would facilitate the implementation of the programme.
Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary (Special Duties), in the Ministry, Mr Aliyu Ahmed, noted that the National Steering Committee (NSC) occupies a strategic position in the governance structure of the SFTAS Programme.
According to him, the Committee is the highest decision making body of the Programme, “hence its membership is being drawn from critical stakeholder institutions of the Federal and State Governments.”
He explained that the SFTAS Programme is an upgraded Government initiative towards enhancing public financial Management by promoting fiscal discipline at sub-national level, adding that its aim is to strengthen fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability in the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory”.
Members of the Committee include, Permanent Secretary, Finance, Federal Ministry of Finance, Chairman; Auditor-General of the Federation; Director-General, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS); Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO); Executive Secretary, Joint Tax Board; Administrator/CEO, Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN); Director-General, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and
Director, International Economic Relations Department (IERD), Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Others included: Six State Commissioners of Finance (representing the six geopolitical zones); Director, Statistics Department of the Central Bank of
Nigeria; National Programme Coordinator, Open Government Partnership (OGP) Secretariat, Federal Ministry of Justice; and
Director, Home Finance/National Programme Coordinator as Member/Secretary.
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.
The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.
68, against 98,206. 97 recorded on Tuesday.Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.
74 per cent.Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.
Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.
On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.
Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.
A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, ETranzact led the activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)
Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.
National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.
He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.
“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.
“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.
“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.
Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.
According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.
He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)
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