The Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has requested approximately $8.93 million from the World Bank for the procurement of 21 items, including office supplies, office furniture, office equipment and vehicles.
The requests were made under the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability project initiated in 2018.
The SFTAS project was developed to strengthen transparency and accountability at the subnational level and will end this year.
The project has received a total of $1.5 billion from the World Bank in two tranches of $750 million (December 2018 and December 2020).
Although the money is a grant to state governments, it is a loan to the federal government.
A copy of the procurement plan for the project, which covers a period from February 2019 to August 2020, was recently leaked to our correspondent.
The procurement plan is in line with the World Bank’s Procurement Guidelines, which specify the arrangements for procuring the goods and works (including related services) required for a project.
According to the procurement plan for the SFTAS project for the period disclosed by the World Bank, the Ministry of Finance has requested an estimated US$25,713 for the procurement of office supplies and materials.
Another request of $33,000 was made for office equipment and supplies for the SFTAS Program Coordination Office.
For furniture, the department requested $64,190 for furnishing and equipping the SFTAS Public Service Institute space, $17,000 for additional office furniture and subdivision for the STFAS office, and $17,250 for additional office equipment and furniture for the Debt Management Office.
The department also requested $25,000 to purchase video conferencing equipment for the SFTAS PCU and MiFi modems for the DMO.
The largest request, however, was for geospatial data for the states, which was budgeted at $8 million.
In addition, $291,804 was requested for the procurement of project vehicles for the PCU and the independent auditor.
Of the 21 proposed items, three were canceled, one was completed, and one was in the process of implementation. In addition, four requests were pending implementation and the remainder had only been signed at the time the document was published in October 2022.
The deleted requests included two other requests for additional furniture that had already been signed.
The PUNCH recently reported that the federal government received $338.98 million from the World Bank in 2022, which it plans to disburse to states soon through the SFTAS program.
A review of the World Bank’s website by The PUNCH revealed that four disbursements were made to the federal government in 2022.
The first disbursement was in April 2022 with the release of $700,036.87, and the second was in June with $330.99 million.
The third disbursement was made in October with the release of $6.83 million, while the last disbursement was $450,419 in November this year.
Recently, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Zainab Ahmed, announced that states have received N471.9 billion from the World Bank-supported SFTAS program for results amounting to $1.5 billion.
During a special dinner hosted by the PCU of the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank with state governors to celebrate the SFTAS results, the Finance Minister said the final tranche of funds would be disbursed to states “in a matter of weeks”
She said, “I am pleased to inform you that in the next few weeks, your states will receive the final tranche of performance-based grants, including the sum of 1 billion naira withheld by the Central Bank due to the naira deficit, thus closing the Performance for Results Grant program, although the technical assistance component will be continued by implementing agencies and partners until June 2023, when the program will finally end.”
When asked by our correspondent, SFTAS Communications Specialist Ibrahim Mohammed said that it was a regular procedure to purchase items needed for a project.
He pointed out that the items were purchased at the beginning of the project and used for the successful implementation of the project.
He said, “When a program begins, the basic items for the work are procured. So furniture for the office, ICT infrastructure and other things were procured. They are all for the use of the office, not for the ministry or the department.
“The office is located in the Internal Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance. We have implementing agencies and partners such as the DMO, AGF, OGP, and the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation. All of the consultants’ salaries are paid from this fund, and the consultants provide technical assistance to states
