Yobe State Receives Award of Excellence for Governance Reforms

December 07, 2022

Yobe State, Nigeria, recently received an award of excellence for its recent governance reforms in public finance management supported in part by DAI-led projects.

The award comes from the State Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability Programme (SFTAS), which is funded by the World Bank and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Finance. The four-year program supports Nigerian states to strengthen fiscal performance and sustainability. Yobe ranked first among the 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory and will receive up to $2 million in World Bank funding.

States participate in the program by meeting a set of eligibility criteria called disbursement link indicators (DLIs) that evaluate a state’s fiscal transparency, accountability, and sustainability. The funding awarded depends on the number of DLIs achieved.

PERL’s capacity-building training workshop on medium-term revenue strategy implementation. Photo: FCDO PERL-ARC.

“We are proud of Yobe State and the way that it has continued to drive development and governance reforms despite daunting security challenges,” said DAI Country Director Dr. Joe Abah.

DAI has supported Yobe’s reforms through various projects. Since 2008—through the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)-funded State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness, and Capability project (SPARC)—DAI has supported the state government in responsive policy formulation and performance-focused public service delivery by helping the state improve revenue collection, reduce budgetary waste, and implement strategies for locally led planning that improves health services, education, and the prospects for economic growth.

SPARC’s successor—the FCDO’s Partnership to Engage, Reform, and Learn-Accountable, Responsive, and Capable Government project (PERL-ARC)—worked with Yobe to promote governance reforms and improve service delivery. In 2016, PERL-ARC’s assistance to the state government enabled the passage of two key public financial management laws: The Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Procurement Law, which improved the state’s fiscal and revenue performance.

Building on the public finance management gains achieved with the assistance of SPARC and PERL-ARC, the state has continued to generate realistic spending plans thanks to accurate revenue and expenditure forecasting. And the European Union-funded Technical Assistance to Strengthen Public Financial Management, Statistics, Monitoring, and Evaluation Systems project has continued to enhance fiscal discipline and more efficient resource allocation with an eye to providing higher-quality public services.

The EU project’s support on cash management strategy, for example, enabled Yobe State to start fully implementing the single treasury account, a unified structure of government bank accounts that enables consolidation and optimal utilization of government cash resources. While its support for a procurement cadre and capacity building for staff are expected to yield long-term institutional benefits.

“We are very happy about the work we have done with the Yobe State Government,” said project Team Leader Abbas Muhammed. “This [SFTAS award] reflects the state’s strong commitment to strengthening its public finance management systems and fiscal discipline.”

The projects’ support of Yobe’s public financial reform initiatives essentially provided the state with the necessary foundation to meet the DLIs, primarily a credible public financial management system inclusive of delivering better-quality public goods and services at the least possible cost.

“DAI remains committed to assisting Yobe State to build upon the significant progress made so far in fiscal discipline and transparent and inclusive budgeting process by finding ways to sustainably broaden the fiscal space and enhance the delivery of public services,” said Abah. “DAI will also support the government’s efforts to develop more prosperous, equitable, safe, and well-governed communities.”