The Sokoto State Government has bagged three awards of excellence from the World Bank sequel to the diligent implementation of the World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Project.
The acting Commissioner for Finance in the state, 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.
“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 held on Monday, November 14, at Transcorp 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 World Bank has been rigorously assessing the states on some key direct link indicators. 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 adding that “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 improved monthly and yearly.”
Inname said that the second award was debt sustainability adding that the state did well in “managing 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 you are able to pay your obligations monthly or on whatever terms that have been agreed upon,” the commissioner said.
The last award he said was on the overall SFTAs on all the Direct Link Indicators.
He said that the indicators were parameters that were being tracked and assessed, adding that they include debt management and ensuring a level of transparency.
Inname added that the budget of the state has been online and people could access it globally.
Inname congratulated the state governor, Aminu Tambuwal, and appreciated his unrelenting support to the ministry for it to achieve the enviable feat.
NAN
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