By Ikenna Uwadileke
The Sokoto State government has bagged three Awards of Excellence from the World Bank sequel to the diligent implementation of World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Project (SFTAS).
The acting Commissioner for Finance in the state, Dr Mohammed Inname, disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
Inname said that SFTAS was being run by the World Bank for the past four to five years in the 36 States and the FCT.
He said: “It is aimed at strengthening the financial and accountability systems in the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The project ends by the end of this year and the states that have performed well were rewarded with awards.”
Inname said that the 2022 edition of the awards was held on Monday, Nov. 14, at the Transcript Hilton, Abuja.
According to Inname, who is also the State Commissioner for Health, the state was able to perform wonderfully in all the three categories.
“The Bank has been rigorously assessing the states on some key Direct Link Indicators (DLIs).
“They are indicators that have been identified and assessed from time to time,” he said.
Inname added that one of the awards was on domestic resource mobilisation or domestic revenues mobilisation.
He said, “we have rebranded and restructured the state Internal Revenue Board Service.
“The board has been appointed, with an Executive Chairman and they were given full autonomy to mobilise and generate revenues.
“We have been doing excellently well from as low as N200million monthly and we have consistently increased to about N900million in October this year.”
Inname said that the second award was Debt Sustainability.
“We have performed very well in this direction.
“That means we are managing our debts in the state. You know you cannot run a government or any organisation without having to borrow.
“But the ability to manage and appropriately utilise the debts is what matters.
“That means that you are able to pay your obligations monthly or on whatever terms that have been agreed upon,” the commissioner said.
Inname said the third award was on the overall SFTAs on all the Direct Link Indicators (All DLIs).
He said that the indicators were parameters that were being tracked and assessed, saying, they include debt management and ensuring a level of transparency.
Inname added that the budget of the state has been online and people can access it globally.
“Similarly, all the expenditures of the state were on the website of the ministry on ‘sokotostate.gov.ng‘; they are open for the world to see.
Inname, among other impacts of the awards said that it was the strengthening of the financial systems in the state.
He said “we have put up structures in the ministry and the BIR to be able to financially sustain the state and make it very healthy to develop.”
Inname congratulated Gov. Aminu Tambuwal and appreciated his unrelenting support to the ministry for it to achieve the enviable feat.
He also lauded his team in the ministry for their sustained support and cooperation and dedicated the awards to them.”
Inname also commended the World Bank for the innovations that were always needed to make the systems very strong.
This, he said, has made the states to grow, especially Sokoto that has very meager resources.
“But, we have been able to achieve a lot,” he said.
He also reiterated the commitment of the state government to continue to tread the path it had been following that earned the state the awards.
“We will sustain and consolidate on the tangible gains we have achieved,’’ Inname promised. (NAN)
