As he winds down his eight-year administration, Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State said his team has worked very hard to build a transparent, prudent and accountable fiscal structure for the state, leading to a much more responsible Kogi.
At a two-day capacity-building programme held in Abuja for journalists at the weekend, the chief executive said the state has earned recognition from local and international institutions for raising the bar of fiscal transparency in budget preparation, implementation and financial reporting. Some of the practices, he said, have been institutionalised.
He particularly pointed out his handling of the state debts as one area that stands Kogi out as a model and earned it a $6 million award on debt reporting from States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS).
The governor said the prudent resource management has freed the fiscal space, enabling the government to invest heavily in critical infrastructure, including education which gets at least 30 per cent of yearly appropriation.
“Appropriate resource management has helped us to create employment and support the economy to grow. Since I assumed office, we have employed more than all the previous administrations put together. We have reduced poverty more than the previous administration put together. We ensured that unintended beneficiaries that were taking our resources were completely removed from our payroll, thus making resources available for us,” Bello noted.
According to the governor, the administration also raised the internally generated revenue (IGR) from between N250 and N300 million monthly to over N1.5 billion as it embarked on aggressive tax base expansion and blocked revenue leakages. The efforts, he said, have led to a sharp decrease in borrowing and helped it to repay inherited debts.
Leaning on the Kogi experience, he called for the adoption of true fiscal federalism. He said states should not be too lazy to explore the opportunities in territories to improve their economies.
“We should tell ourselves the truth. True fiscal federalism is the only way. You will not be in charge of your resources and allow crimes and criminalities to fester. You will secure it because that is where you generate your resources. You will fix criminalities; you will not allow a foreigner to harm your citizens. States should be free to manage their resources and get investors,” he advised.
The Kogi State government reduced its debt by N59.15 billion in 2020 alone, emerging as the highest-performing state in debt reduction in the year.
The Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning, Asiru Idris, said the state has sustained its excellent debt management strategies, reducing the burden of debt on the state government.
“Since the inception of the administration on January 27th, 2016, the governor has put in place, deliberate policies to entrench good governance in the state through transparency and accountability and reduction in the debt burden of the state,” he said, listing the strategies as establishment of treasury single account (TSA) to reduce states reliance on commercial bank loans, creating proper budgetary procedure, offsetting state’s expensive loans and good debt management strategy.
Others, according to the commissioner, include debt consolidation or debt buyback, debt restructuring, arrears clearance framework, upgrading government financial management information systems and improving revenue generation and blocking fiscal linkages.
Idris noted: “The State government, through the stated economic policy, has improved the debt management and debt transparency. The effective debt reduction strategies adopted by this administration has made possible the restructuring of the state Bond Facility in 2018 and spread the repayment process to ease the burden on the state’s monthly allocation. The state also established Debt Arrears Clearance Framework (ACF) in 2020. Another success story was the debt buyback exercise with Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa PLC in 2021.”
To grow the economy and improve the capacity to service its debt, the commissioner said the government is encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow, investing in infrastructure, improving the security system and promoting balanced and planned economic development.
He pointed out that the state’s adoption of town hall meetings on budgeting has significantly increased openness and stakeholders’ participation in Appropriation management.
“This has earned the state several awards. The state has received $300,000 annually for four years for participatory preparation of the annual budget.
“In the last five years, the state has remained committed to the preparation of the citizen’s budget, which is published in English as well as the three major local languages – Igala, Ebira and Yoruba. The citizen’s budget is a simplified version of the budget that the ordinary people can easily access and relate with,” he added.
