From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The World Bank has released to Kogi State the sum of $5million for achieving 90% of the budget Implementation procedure as at November.
The money released by the World Bank to the State is prize money for establishing a fiscally sustainable policy.
The state Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Asiwaju Idris disclosed this during a one day broad sensitization town hall meeting for Nigeria’s second peer review organized by the Presidency, NEPAD/APRM Kogi State Office, held in Lokoja at the weekend.
The Commissioner explained that the World Bank money was earned by the State for been reliable and responsive to COVID-19 through an amended COVID-19 responsive 2020 budget.
Asiwaju Idris confirmed the receipt of N1.9billion as money already received by the State Government as prize money for meeting SFTAS indicators.
He commended APRM for its pursuit of the highest possible standard of good Political, economic and corporate governance and for broad Sustainable socioeconomic developement, being the reason the state put together the participatory and transparent town hall meeting of stakeholders.
The commissioner also praised Governor Yahaya Bello for making transparency, accountability and sustainablity a policy priority, described the feat achieved by the state as unprecedented.
The Commissioner further applauded the Governor for given approval and full support aimed at providing necessary logistics for the state Office of NEPAD/APRM, and the country team towards achieving their objectives.
Asiwaju Idris appreciated the Staff and all MDAs in the state, for their efforts in implementation of the policies of the present administration adding that the money released to the State will be used for Education, Health, Agriculture and improvement on basic infrastructure as well as embarking on Social Programs to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on the people.
Recall that Kogi State achieved 100% in the APA 2019 assessment by SFTAS.
SFTAS is a $750m programme of the Federal Government aimed at rewarding States for meeting any or all of nine indicators that demonstrate improvements in State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability.
