Finance ministry secures $5.6M World Bank loan for office supplies
The World Bank has given $5.6m to the Home Finance Department of Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning to buy 21 items for a project that aims to improve transparency and accountability at the state level.
The project, called the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS), started in 2018 and ended in 2022, but some activities are still ongoing, according to a document from the bank.
The PUNCH reports that the World Bank committed $1.5bn to the project in two phases of $750m each in December 2018 and December 2020. The money is a grant to the states, but a loan to the federal government.
The document shows the procurement plan for the project from February 2019 to August 2020, which follows the World Bank’s guidelines for buying goods and services for a project.
The Home Finance Department used the money to buy office stationery, furniture, solar inverter, video conferencing equipment, MiFi modems, and vehicles for the SFTAS Programme Coordinating Unit (PCU) and the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The most expensive item was the provision of spatial data to the states, which cost $4.78m.
Out of the 21 items planned, two were cancelled, four were completed, one was under implementation, three were pending, and 11 were signed as of December 2023.
The World Bank recently revealed that Nigeria was the top beneficiary of its new loans in 2022, with $2.9bn given to the country.
Another report also said that Nigeria is paying back $14.12bn from 108 loans approved by the World Bank. The oldest loan dates back to 1989 under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, while the newest loan was approved in 2018 under Muhammadu Buhari.
The oldest loan is the $100.9m Multistate Agricultural Development Project (03), which was meant to boost food production and income of small farmers.
Ibrahim Mohammed, the SFTAS’ Communications Specialist, told The PUNCH that buying items for a project was a normal procedure.
He said that the items were bought at the beginning of the project and were used to make the project successful.
He said, “When a programme starts, there is procurement of the basic items needed for the jobs. So, procurement was made in terms of providing furniture, stationery, and other things that are needed for the project.”
Punchng