When he first took office, Governor Muhammad Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa state met financial liabilities and contractual commitments for ongoing capital projects amounting to over N110 billion. This was more than the annual budget of the state at the time which had just N16 million in its coffers. Rescuing the state from this financial quagmire and finding the fiscal feet to move towards rapid progress became a paramount priority.
Liabilities ranged from contractual commitments on ongoing projects, unpaid capital payment vouchers, contributory pension arrears, outstanding scholarship payments, unpaid examination fees for over 19,000 students, and from internal loans to unpaid counterpart obligations.
An empty treasury in the face of colossal financial burdens and commitments combined with national economic recession presented the kind of challenges that only an astute accountant and experienced entrepreneur can handle.
Governor Abubakar stepped up to the tasks by adopting ingenious measures not only to mitigate the situation but proceed to deliver the dividends of democracy. From the institutionalisation of accountability and transparency, the administration moved to adopt prudence and value-for-money as the binding ethic in all its operations. This made effectiveness and efficiency the watchwords in public expenditure programming.
Starting with the integration of all revenue collection points and enforcement of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the Jigawa State Ministry of Finance under his administration did not just instantly enhance revenue generation but uncovered millions of Naira in idle funds.
In just five years, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) moved from barely more than N2 billion in 2015 to well over N20 billion by 2020. This was achieved partly as a result of the reorganization of the Jigawa state Internal Revenue Services (JSIRS) and the development of the JSIR.ng.org website which offers tax-payers in the state a ready and simple process of tax payment.
Likewise, the introduction of the electronic payment system to contractors streamlined cash outflows and immeasurably improved accountability. The mode also drastically reduced the time and labour hitherto deployed for the process.
One of the early gains from these reforms was an astronomical decrease in the cost of governance. For instance, compared to the period January 2012 to March 2015, the costs of running the governor and deputy governor’s office were shrunk by 290% and 180%, respectively, between January 2016 and March 2019.
Other areas in which wastage was severely curtailed were Protocol and the infamous Security Vote. Here, expenses were cut by 244 percent and 145 percent respectively. The surpluses were directly channelled into the execution of critical capital projects and programmes.
Priority was also redirected to the welfare of workers when Governor Badaru Abubakar approved an upwards review of motor vehicle and motor-cycle loans as well as refurbishment allowances to all categories of civil servants in the state. Thus far, over 17,000 civil servants benefited from the improved facility to the tune of over N4 billion. The increased dedication to duty and motivation generated by this gesture is immeasurable.
Another significant achievement of the new principles was the impact on the execution of capital projects and programmes. Following the broad-based review and verification of all inherited contractual commitments and liabilities, the state government saved over N8 billion through discounts. This enabled the completion of all the projects and the settlement of 88% of the state’s liabilities as at 2019.
The efficacy of the cutting-edge financial management strategies also manifested in many other ways. One of these was the earning of over N3 billion from investment of surplus funds over the last five years. Government also qualified for and received the first tranche of an International Development Bank loan for integrated agriculture development worth $1 million.
In the same vein, the sustained public finance management reforms ensured the successful participation of Jigawa state in the World Bank-supported State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme. This enabled the state to access N1.98 billion and N8.208 billion in the 2018 and 2019 budget cycles, respectively, making it the second highest beneficiary in the country.
These and other strategies enabled the payment of over N6 billion in scholarships to both national and international students as at May 2021 as well as arrears inherited from previous academic sessions.
Similarly, counterpart funding arrears due to the State Universal Basic Education, the World Bank FADAMA III and IPAD projects worth over N8 billion were duly settled.Commitment to prompt payment of such counterpart financing also facilitated the state’s access the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Conditional Grants leading to the execution of more than 100 projects for the Primary Healthcare, Water Supply and Sanitation Scheme as well as Women Economic Empowerment worth over N1 billion in 2016 alone.To sustain these successes, the state government is making steady progress in the implementation of the Fiscal Sustainability Plan which is a precondition for accessing the Federal Government’s Budget Support Facility.
Achievements in this respect include the timely completion of the Annual Financial Statements, establishment of the Internal Audit Department and the Planning, Research and Statistics Efficiency Unit in the Ministry of Finance.The creation of the Budget and Economic Planning Directorate in the Ministry, which followed Governor Abubakar’s signing up for the Open Government Partnership (OGP), has resulted in the development of a State Action Plan with support from DFID PERL-ARC. Now, the second edition of the Jigawa State Comprehensive Development Framework is in its second edition.
Similarly, the establishment of the Jigawa State Bureau of Statistics in 2017, has facilitated evidence-based planning and decision-making. With its publications such as the “Jigawa State: Facts and Figures” and the “Jigawa State Statistical Yearbooks,” but governmental and non- governmental organisations are in a better position to positively intervene in the developmental needs of the state.To cap all these, the existing Integrated Financial Management Information System has since been upgraded to IPSAS standard. Electronic documentation of financial records to ease data storage and retrieval within the Ministry of Finance is now the norm.Successive budget reports in the past six years continue to indicate high budget performance with over 90 percent recorded in the 2020 full-year report. This is as a result of the inclusive and realistic nature of the budget proposals of the administration.
Today, Jigawa state is a national leader in budget transparency. The trend started in 2018 when it came first among the 36 states of the Federation with a score of 87 percent. In 2020, its scores soared to 90 percent as prove of its sustained positive reforms in public financial management.This record is translating into rapid progress and development for the state and has irreversibly reset the template for incoming administrations. It also boosts the confidence of both local and foreign investors who are currently coming to Jigawa state in droves.
Since independence, Nigeria has been mainly led by teachers and soldiers. Discounting the 89-day long Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan, no one with any meaningful experience and expertise in entrepreneurship has been at the helm. It may explain why we have almost always tottered on the brink of bankruptcy even during periods when the nation had more money than it could spend.
Now, indebted almost to its neck and facing deep development deficits across all sectors, Nigeria needs a business-minded mogul to meander its way out of its needless impoverishment. Of all the presidential aspirants on parade, Governor Muhammad Badaru Abubakar presents the best credentials for this criteria.
Maduwugba writes from France Road, Sabon-Gari, Kano
