World Bank Scores Osun High In Fiscal Transparency, as state qualifies for grant

Bola Oyebamiji preaches more accountability in governance

Kingsley Omoyeni

The prudent and transparent nature of governance in the state of Osun has yielded fruit as the state is among 21 out of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT that has qualified for a World Bank grant as a result of its fiscal transparency.

Tagged: State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability And Sustainability Programme (SFTAS), a programme orchestrated by the World Bank through the federal ministry of finance to help state governments that are accountable and transparent in their state’s finances to benefit from grants that will be used for further developent.

Determined to get such grants for the development of the state, the present administration immediately constituted a steering committee chaired by the Supervisor for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji with a view to meeting up with all the eligibility criteria of the programme.

At a meeting with the SFTAS committee on Wednesday at the conference room of the Ministry of Finance, the obviously elated Oyebamiji broke the news to the delight of the committee members that the state has been given a pass mark by the World Bank.

Oyebamiji however called on the committee which has the Supervisor for Economic Planning, Budget and Development, Professor Olalekan Yinusa as Vice chairman not to relax as a result of the success just achieved but to start on meeting the target for 2019 and beyond.

While charging the committee to ensure that the state does not miss out on any of the variables in future, the financial expert stressed that all the processes which the state took to achieve the feat must be institutionalized to make things continue to work in a transparent manner.

Oyebamiji who is also in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, Cooperatives and Industry said the present administration in the state will continue to run a transparent government that will be for the benefit of all Osun people no matter the status, adding that transparency in governance makes things work better.

According to the Supervisor, “this is a feat that we must all be proud of, the transparent and accountable nature of governance in Osun has paid off and I am proud that a body such as the World Bank has given us a clean bill and our state will benefit from grants that we will use to further develop the state.

“Out of the 36 states in the country including the FCT, it is gratifying that Osun is one of the leading states out of the 21 that scaled through and met up with most of the eligibility criteria.

“This is as a result of hard work and the transparent manner which governance has been run over the years in Osun. We must continue in this manner because there is still a lot for us to achieve. We must work to institutionalize the process that will make fiscal transparency to continue to be the order of the day.

“It is pertinent that we sustain this process because a transparent government is bound to succeed without any doubt and the masses will be better for it. That is why the World Bank through the federal ministry of finance is using the SFTAS programme to test the transparent nature of government before releasing the grant.

“I am happy that the World Bank has scored us high and I think we should be proud of ourselves, thank God we have not missed this opportunity.” He stated.

Speaking on the need to continue to run a transparent and accountable government in the state, Mr Oyebamiji said such move will create room for an improved IGR as residents will have more trust in their government and be willing to pay their taxes and other levies because they know that their money will be judiciously spent.

In his words, “Apart from the fact that we are getting a grant through this, we should be happy that we are laying a foundation for how things should be done. When a transparent government is in place, it can have a positive effect on the Internally Generated Revenue.

“Citizens will have more trust in their leaders and in turn be willing to pay their taxes and other levies because of the assurance that their monies will be spent in a transparent manner.