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…Urges FG to publish regular audited financial statements
By Amaechi Ogbonna and Chinelo Obogo
State Governor, Mr Yahaya Bello, at the weekend, gave reasons why his administration won several World Bank awards on transparency and efficient budget management in its various assessment programmes on Nigeria’s sub-nationals.
This was even as he urged President Bola Tinubu to compel the Federal Ministry of Finance and other relevant agencies of government to publish quarterly and audited annual financial statements to strengthen transparency in the management of resources in line with its Renewed Hope Agenda.
Bello who spoke at the closing ceremony of the third edition of Governor Yahaya Bello Annual Seminar for Journalists in Abuja, Friday, said efficient and transparent management of the state’s public finance to deliver dividends of democracy to the people had been the hallmark of his administration since inception in 2016, which also paved the way for the awards and recognitions it earned from the Britton Woods institution.
In a presentation by the state’s Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Asiru Idris, titled “Reduction of Debt Burden, Transparency and Accountability in Governance: The Kogi Success Story”, the governor said government’s transactions and financial activities for every preceding quarter were always available online for all stakeholders to access in line with the administration’s transparency agenda.
According to him, achieving over 82.7 per cent debt reduction from N71.6 billion to N59.3billion between 2016 and 2021 was among the factors that earned the state a grant of $4 million for transparency in the first instance and another $5 million grant for quality budget preparation from the World Bank making the state a pacesetter in public finance management in Nigeria.
The governor said these milestones were achieved through his people-centred strategies focusing on town hall meetings to create a citizens’ budget out of every annual budget, preparation of quarterly budget performance sheet that is well managed.
“Since the inception of the administration, deliberate policies have been entrenched for good governance in the state through transparency, accountability and reduction in the debt burden of the state. The debt reduction strategies adopted by the administration include: establishment of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) to reduce states reliance on commercial bank loans through creation of proper budgetary procedure, to offset state’s most expensive loans; good debt management strategy, debt consolidation or debt buy back; reduction of expenditure; debt restructuring; reducing the interest rates and extending the tenor.
Others strategies include the arrears clearance framework; prioritising of areas, upgrade of government’s financial management information systems and improved revenue generation through blockage of revenue leakages to improve capacity to repay debt.”
He explained that his government improved the debt management and debt transparency effective debt reduction strategies adopted by the administration, enabling the restructuring of the state’s Bond Facility in 2018, and spreading the repayment process to ease the burden on the state’s monthly allocation, in addition to establishing the Debt Arrears Clearance Framework (DACF) in 2020. Another key success story the Kogi helmsman listed was the Debt Buy Back Exercise with Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc in 2021, adding that Kogi State received the sum of $6 Million from the SFTAS on Debt reporting, improved debt sustainability and arrears of clearance framework.
Governor Bello further said that the state was doing a lot to grow the economy and improve its capacity to pay debts to encourage foreign direct investment, including the establishment of skills development/building of the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, and setting up of Kogi State Fiscal Responsibility Commission to promote planned and balanced economic development.
