World Bank Presents Three Awards Of Excellence To Sokoto State

The World Bank has presented three Awards of Excellence to the Sokoto State sequel to the diligent implementation of the World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Project (SFTAS).

This was made known by  Dr Mohammed Inname, the acting Commissioner for Finance in the state, 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.

“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.”

He added that the 2022 edition of the awards was held on Monday, November 14, at the Transcript Hilton, Abuja.

Inname, who is also the State Commissioner for Health, disclosed that the state was able to perform wonderfully in all 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.

He added that one of the awards was on domestic resource mobilisation or domestic revenues mobilisation.

"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 N900 million 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.

According to him, 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.

He further congratulated the state Governor,  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.