The World Bank has said it is currently providing technical support to the 21 state governments in the area of internally generated revenue and public financial management.
The Lead Financial Management Specialist, World Bank, Mr. Manuel Vargas, said this when he led a team on a visit to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission on the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
A total sum of N682bn was generated by the 36 states of the Federation as IGR in the 2016 fiscal period.
Vargas, who did not disclosed the identities of the 21 states, said that the World Bank would also provide technical support for them in the area of tax reforms, budget planning and execution, accounting expenditure control, and financial reporting.
Other areas of support are internal and external audit, integrated financial management information systems and public procurement reforms.
He said, “It is a whole spectrum of public financial management and we are supporting them, but the level of progress varies from state to state with some making progress, while some are lagging behind.
“We will continue to support them with the hope that we can get all of them to an acceptable standard, and we are looking at how to collaborate with the FRC to ensure that the support is comprehensive.”
Vargas added that the bank would provide support to the commission in achieving its mandate of ensuring fiscal prudence in governance.
He added, “We have been requested by the Ministry of Finance to prepare this new project to give support and capacity assistance at the Federal Government level on areas related to public financial management, transparency, accountability and development of national statistics.
“We have a large team working on this with the aim of coming up with the best possible solutions, which is a vision we also share. We want to emphasise the issue of coordination and implementation and see how this operation can support that. We also need to make sure there is a coordinated approach so it can be cost-effective and have impact.”
Responding, the Acting Chairman, FRC, Mr. Victor Muruako, said the country had recorded achievements in fiscal responsibility but noted that there was still much to be done.
He stated that the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which was enacted in 2007 to promote prudent management of the nation’s resources, had helped to reform the budgetary process through the introduction of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
Muruako added that the new standardised template designed by the commission for remitting operating surpluses would also go a long way in generating more funds into the Consolidated Revenue Fund account of the Federal Government.
On the ERGP, Muruako said the goal was to achieve economic growth of seven per cent by 2020, adding that the initiative was achievable because the government had the political will to implement the plan.
