Kwara govt wins $16.9m World Bank development-based grant

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Kwara State Government has announced that it has won a $16.9 million grant from the World Bank in its 2019/2020 State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme for developmental achievements.

In a statement issued by the Press Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Mrs Saad Hamdalat, on Wednesday in Ilorin, the state capital, the state said the award is the highest ever achieved by the state since the initiative began in 2018.

Hamdalat said the award came after the state satisfied the “disbursements linked indicators (DLIs) as contained in the Annual Performance Assessment (APA) final report, submitted by the Independent Verification Agents (IVA) that had earlier visited Kwara for an on the spot assessment.”

The statement adds:

“The DLIs include improved financial reporting and budget reliability, increased citizens engagement in budget process; strengthened Internally Generated Revenues (IGR); biometric and BVN used to reduce payroll fraud.

“Strengthened public debt management, improved debt sustainability and implementation of a tax compliance for individual taxpayers and businesses.

“This will also strengthen procurement function for COVID-19 or emergency situations and facilitate participation of SMEs in public procurement resilient recovery phase and publication and approval of amended COVID-19 response budget.

“The import of the foregoing is that the state is eligible to the total sum of 16.9 million dollars, representing performance-based grant for 2019 APA, with an earlier disbursement of five million dollars in November 2020.

“Of the balance of 11.9 million dollars, the state has received additional 9.4 million dollars on Jan. 4, 2021 and awaits the balance of 2.5 million dollars later in the month.”

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