It has been learned that the World Bank is set to release $750 million in continuation of its efforts to encourage transparency and accountability by state governments.
The facility is the second tranche of a $1.5 billion plan between the World Bank and the Federal Government, which intention is, apart from fiscal transparency, sustainable growth.
The incentivized scheme known as States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) is a conditional grant with the states expected to achieve certain Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) to qualify for the new disbursement in 2022.
Also, further evaluation of earlier disbursements to determine how the first tranche was utilized will be conducted in some states by the World Bank.
The $750 million World Bank grant is designed to strengthen the fiscal transparency, accountability, and sustainability in Nigerian states as a way of improving their revenue base, increasing fiscal efficiency in public expenditure and reducing debt overhang.
For the states to meet the DLIs, the federal government requires states must show evidence of citizens’ input from formal public consultations as published online, along with the proposed fiscal year budget and citizens’ budget based on the approved state budget published online by, altogether with functional online feedback mechanisms.
