Kano to Strengthen Fiscal Reforms to Boost Transparency, Accountability

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The Kano State government has expressed its commitment to strengthen fiscal reforms to boost transparency and accountability in tandem with the ideals enunciated in the States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme for Results initiated by the federal government in collaboration with the World Bank.

The State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf dropped the hint at a five-day zonal workshop for audit officers drawn from states and local government auditors general organised by the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation (OAUGF) in collaboration with the SFTAS Programme Unit, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

While declaring the workshop open, the governor who was represented by his Deputy, Aminu Abdulsalam, reiterated the state’s commitment to actualise the objective of transparency, accountability and sustainability in governance.

A statement issued by the SFTAS Communication Specialist, Ibrahim Mohammed, said the governor observed that the mainstreaming of the ideals of the programme in states’ public financial management system with significant improvement in increased fiscal transparency and accountability, strengthened domestic revenue mobiliation, increased efficiency in public expenditure and strengthened debt sustainability was a further testimony that the laudable programme has come of age.

The governor stressed that following its effective implementation, most of the states in the federation could now boast of improved procurement practices to enhance value for money and reduce opportunities for corruption and misuse of public resources; ensure automated internally generated revenue (IGR) collection systems so as to increase revenue inflows to the respective state consolidated revenue account.

Other benefits he listed were regular submission of comprehensive quarterly debt reports to the Debt Management Office (DMO) on debt stock and debt servicing; passed public debt management laws and fiscal responsibility legislations, which mirror the federal government’s Fiscal Responsibility Act and established fiscal and debt rules as well as limits and responsibilities for contracting states’ debt with functional debt departments.

According to him, “given the aforementioned development, you would agree with me that SFTAS has come of age with guarantee for its sustainability beyond its stipulated lifespan.”

In order to institutionalise audit reforms at states and local government levels, the governor urged participants to imbibe the lessons learned with a view to deepening audit reforms in their various domains for improved service delivery, transparency and accountability in public financial management system.

Speaking earlier, SFTAS National Programme Coordinator, Mr. Ali Mohammed, disclosed that the objectives of the train the trainers’ workshop were aimed at providing further technical assistance (TA) to the states and local governments as part of the goals of the SFTAS Programme for Results (PforR) to strengthen the professional capacity of the states and local government auditors-general offices.

Mohammed, further disclosed that the passage of Audit Laws in about 32 states of the federation, has led to remarkable gains for the SFTAS Programme which is meant to improve the professional independence of the offices of the auditor-general for states and local governments, adding that the capacity-building programme would further strengthen the professionalism of the state and local government auditors-general offices.

He told participants that the training, which comprised both concepts and practical interface with field officers using case study exercises and practical experiences was designed as a Train-the-Trainers (TT) programme that would see selected staff from the audit offices return home and pass on the knowledge acquired to their colleagues.

The National Programme Coordinator observed that the SFTAS Programme for Results was now in its final year of implementation, adding that sustainability phase, has recorded remarkable improvement in major public finance management laws, budget transparency and citizen participation stating that the end date of the SFTAS Programme which ought to have originally been December, 2022 had been extended twice; first from January, 2023 to June 30,  2023 and more recently, from July 1, 2023 to December, 2023.

“The purpose of these extensions is to facilitate further support to the States during the sustainability phase of the SFTAS programme and more importantly, to usher in the States Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) an off-shoot of the SFTAS programme seamlessly,” he said.