…Reaffirms Commitment To Promoting Good Governance
Segun Babatunde in Bauchi
Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed on Wednesday morning told development partners that his administration is fully committed to promoting good governance for the benefit of citizens of the state.
The governor was speaking at the national virtual launching of USAID Nigeria, State Accountability, Transparency & Effectiveness (State2State) Activity at Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), Bauchi.
Governor Bala Mohammed said already his administration has introduced various public service reforms to improve fiscal discipline in public procurement, debt management and implementation of fiscal responsibility law and practices reflected in the state’s budget processes to eliminate and block leakages and waste in recurrent and capital budgets.
The governor said the state government has introduced Treasury Single Account (TSA), tax administration which assisted in eliminating multiple taxation and shoring up additional sources of revenue in the state.
According to him, the measures have enhanced accountability, reduced corrupt practices and ensured fiscal discipline in public service.
He said Bauchi state government has signed the State’s Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) for results project with the World Bank and it has continued to meet its core indicators on the disbursement link indicators dashboard.
“Bauchi State maintains cordial relations with various donor and multilateral bodies and organisations. Government is committed to meeting its counterpart obligations regardless of the lean cash inflows to the state, especially for improved service delivery in the critical sectors of education, health and WASH which are of primary interest to this government and the State2State activity.”
On the importance of the State Accountability, Transparency & Effectiveness (State2State) project, the governor described it as a welcome development as it will reinforce and sustain government reforms programmes in Bauchi state.
Governor Bala Mohammed said the state government is committed to partnering with USAID in implementing the project and it has so far formed a transformation committee headed by the Secretary to the State Government for effective implementation.
In a key note adrress, the Honorable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Shamsuna Ahmad congratulated USAID for the launching of the project and described it as a timely initiative which will go along way towards strengthening governance system in the benefiting states.
In a remark, the Chief of Party of the project, Mr Tissan Sullivan said the state2state was designed to assist the benefiting states to provide the needed good governance through meeting with the basic needs of citizens. END
