By Tony Obiechina Abuja
Thirty-three states of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have signed up for the World Bank Subsidiary Loan Agreement (SLA).
The Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, disclosed this while declaring open a sensitisation workshop on the States Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Program held in Abuja on Monday.
According to her, at least 28 States got between USD$1 – USD$4 million in Prior Results Disbursements from a total disbursement of USD$68.36 million disbursement of USD$68.36 million recently concluded.
The Permanent secretary further stated that presently, arrangements have been concluded with Independent Verification Firm to conduct the year 2023 and 2024 performance assessment.
She said that the lesson learnt under SFTAS “has improved our performance with greater transparency in business relations with government, optimized processes for land acquisition for investment, strengthened Grievance Redress Mechanisms (GRM) processes”.
Mrs Jafiya listed other achievements to include strengthening collaboration between Public Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks and reduced cost of investment in fibre optic deployment to power business efficiency and effectiveness.
She acknowledged the efforts of the World Bank for providing the SABER programme and P for R, for “our partners, Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) Secretariat, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Federal Debt Management Office (DMO) and for their efforts in bringing this vision to fruition”.
The permanent secretary noted that their contribution to program design, capacity building, technical advisory and concessionary financing is instrumental to the success recorded thus far, also thanked Director of Home Finance for his focused leadership and commitment as the National Program Coordinator.
She then urged every State official to participate actively and engage the facilitators and technical assistance partners on the subject matter of the programme, adding that “this is an opportunity to get clarity of areas not initially clearly defined and understood in the programme”.
In his welcome address, Dr. Ali Mohammed, director of Home Finance Department, of the Ministry explained that the workshop was convened to sensitize critical Stakeholders on the successes and challenges recorded in programme implementation in the last two years, with a view to charting pathways to more successful programme implementation in the third year of the implementation of the SABER programme.
He further explained that the SFTAS programme recorded remarkable progress in entrenching transparency and accountability in fiscal governance at sub-national level with most States of the Federation holistically embracing its ideals.
“It was as a result of the outstanding success of the SFTAS programme that the Federal Government in collaboration with the World Bank introduced the State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Programme”, he added.
Dr Ali who doubles as the National Programme Coordinator said the SABER Programme is a 3-year (2023-2025) US$750m Programme for Results that seeks to incentivize States to implement critical reforms aimed at improving efficiency in land administration, the regulatory framework for private investment in fiber optic deployment, services provided by investment promotion agencies and public private partnership units and the efficiency and transparency of government to business services in participating States.
According to him, disbursements will be on-lent to the States upon annual verification by an Independent Verification Agent (IVA) that a State has successfully implemented the associated reforms.
” Let me hasten to add that these reforms will also strategically position your States for local and Foreign Investment, hence, creating more jobs and eventually, propel the much-desired Economic Growth in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President.
“This workshop aims to increase the capacity of the States to undertake the required reforms to effectively meet all Disbursement Linked Indicators/Results (DLIs/DLRs) and the Eligibility Criteria (EC).
” Furthermore, during the 5-Day Sensitization meeting participants will receive further clarity on the SABER programme and compare strategies for overcoming Programme challenges or difficulties.
” At this juncture, I urge all participants to open up their minds towards an interactive engagement with colleagues and experts from the Programme Implementation Units for cross fertilization of ideas that would further smoothen programme implementation”, he added.
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