The Home Finance Department of Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning has received a sum of $5.6 million from the World Bank.
The funds are allocated for the procurement of 21 items, including office stationeries, furniture, solar inverters, office equipment, and vehicles.
The approvals for these procurements were made under the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability (SFTAS) project initiated in 2018.
The SFTAS project, designed to enhance transparency and accountability at the sub-national level, officially concluded in 2022, but ongoing project implementations continue, as per documents obtained from the World Bank.
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The project, funded with a total commitment of $1.5 billion in two batches of $750 million (December 2018 and December 2020), is categorized as a grant to state governments but constitutes a loan to the Federal Government.
According to the World Bank’s procurement plan for the SFTAS project covering the period from February 2019 to August 2020, various allocations were made to the Home Finance Department.
These include $25,713 for office stationery and supplies, $39,357 for additional office equipment and supplies for the SFTAS Programme Coordinating Unit, and $64,190 for furnishing and equipping SFTAS Public Service Institute space.
Additionally, the department received funds for furniture items, with $14,842 for additional office furniture and partitioning of the SFTAS office, and $24,038 for the procurement of video conferencing equipment.
The most substantial allocation, amounting to $4.78 million, was made for providing spatial data to states.
Other allocations include $409,638 for project vehicles, an Inverter Power Backup System for the SFTAS Programme Coordinating Unit, and various other items.
Out of the 21 proposed items, two were canceled, four were successfully completed, one was under implementation, three were pending implementation, and 11 projects were signed as of the December 2023 document release.
Recent reports indicate that Nigeria was the top recipient of World Bank loans in 2022, with approximately $2.9 billion released to the country.
The country is currently servicing about $14.12 billion from 108 approved loans.
The SFTAS project’s Communications Specialist, Ibrahim Mohammed, clarified that the procurement of items is a regular procedure at the project’s commencement to ensure successful implementation.
He emphasized that these items are for the project office, located in the Home Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance, and are not for the ministry or department itself.
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