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Fiscal Transparency: Gombe Bags 4 World Bank/ SFTAS Awards

Published

4 years ago

November 16, 2022

By Abdulateef Taiwo

Gombe State, under the dynamic leadership of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has won the World Bank’s States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability ( SFTAS) Award in four key categories owing to reforms that have impacted positively on its fiscal transparency and accountability in public resource management.

SFTAS is a programme that encourages and motivates Nigerian States towards improvement of their PFM systems, processes and institution aimed at strengthening fiscal transparency to help build trust in government, facilitate accountability in public resource management and ensuring sustainability in the participating states.

An event, tagged “Federal Government of Nigeria/World Bank States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) recognition Dinner with Governors/Award Night” was organised to celebrate the acievements of SFTAS since inception.

The event took place at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on Monday, 14th November, 2022.

During the occasion, Gombe State received awards of Excellent Performance on Fiscal Transparency and Accountability, Very Good performances on efficiency of Public expenditure, Domestic Revenue Mobilization and on overall SFTAS Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLI’s). Gombe is also ranked 5th in the overall rankings for SFTAS.

The Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Muhammad Gambo Magaji who received the awards on behalf of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya attributed the feat attained by Gombe State to the political will and determination of Governor Inuwa Yahaya to reform and reposition the state’s public finance management structure to compare with international best practices.

He said the Governor provided support and the freedom for the steering committee to implement policies and procedures that ensured the state met all requirements attached to the Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLI’s) under the SFTAS programme without interference.

The Finance Commissioner noted that Governor Inuwa has enthroned a durable system that instills probity, transparency accountability, due process and the rule of law in governance.

It will be recalled that just recently, Gombe State moved four places, from 11th position in 2021 to 7th in 2022, in the Transparency and Integrity Index released earlier this month by the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch (CeFTIW).

Also, the 2021 State-of-the-states report published by BudgIT, a leading fiscal policy tracking organisation in Nigeria, indicated that Gombe state recorded impressive improvements in its revenue generation capacity as well as expenditure efficiency under the leadership of Governor Inuwa Yahaya.

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Alake Inaugurates Nigeria-US Solid Minerals Committee, Dismisses $700bn Claim, Says No Assets Sold

Published

2 days ago

October 28, 2026

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, on Tuesday inaugurated the Nigeria-United States Committee on Strategic Cooperation in the Solid Minerals Sector in Abuja, dismissing reports that Nigeria sold $700 billion worth of solid minerals to the US.

The inauguration followed the strategic cooperation framework established between Nigeria and the United States during the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Head PRESS and Public Relations Department Mrs. Kania Maliki Andeyaba stated that, Alake in the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with the US is a government-to-government platform to facilitate business-to-business engagements between American investors and Nigerian local operators, not a sale of assets.

Harping on the importance of the solid minerals sector to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic diversification agenda, he noted that the administration was committed to reducing dependence on a mono-product economy through the sustainable development of Nigeria’s vast mineral resources.

According to him, the Nigeria–US partnership as a strategic initiative to attract investment, promote technology transfer, strengthen local mineral processing and create employment opportunities.

“There is no sale of any Nigerian asset. There’s nothing exchanging hands,” Alake declared.

“We created a platform to facilitate mingling of US investment ventures with Nigeria’s local operators. It is in the public domain. We signed it in public and published it in four or five national newspapers.”

The Minister said reports claiming the US was coming to take over Nigeria’s minerals and security architecture were untrue at best and products of riotous imagination at worst.

Explaining the policy thrust, Alake said Africa has historically held the short end of the stick in global economic transactions, and Nigeria is determined to change that model.

“We have the resources, the critical elements the world needs to transit to clean energy. So we are creating a new paradigm — you bring your capital, expertise and technology, to match with our natural resources and create a win-win situation . The investor gains, Nigeria gains.’’he said.

Nigeria, he stressed, had operated a mono-cultural economy dependent on oil, while solid minerals were exploited informally — with ores taken “from pit to port” without value addition.

Alake said government has now made local processing mandatory, refusing to grant mineral titles to investors without a clear pathway to processing in Nigeria.

He said the policy led to the springing up of processing factories, including the largest lithium processing plant in West Africa commissioned recently in Nasarawa by the Vice President, and informed the formation of the African Minerals Strategy Group.

Alake noted that investor confidence has returned due to macro-economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu that guarantee security of tenure and repatriation of profits.

He charged the committee to discharge its assignment responsibly, saying its work is strategic to achieving the President’s $1 trillion economy target.

To this end, he told the Committee to ensure effective coordination, identify investment opportunities and translate the framework into measurable outcomes capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive player in the global solid minerals industry.

In his welcome address, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo, said the inauguration translates growing bilateral engagements into a structured framework for practical cooperation and investment mobilization

Economic Officer at the US Embassy, Jonathan Baas, said President Donald Trump has prioritized three areas for US embassies — energy, artificial intelligence/super intelligence, and critical minerals.

Baas said Washington’s direction is to work with partners to secure critical supply chains while ensuring partners capture value.

“We just signed a contract today on looking into building AI data centres in Nigeria at the Nigerian Economic Summit. That’s the direction Washington wants us to go,” he said.

In his vote of thanks, CEO/Managing Director of Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, NSMC said that the committee

is expected to coordinate implementation, facilitate investment and monitor progress towards achieving the objectives of the Nigeria–US cooperation framework.

The inauguration reinforces the Federal Government’s commitment to repositioning the solid minerals sector as a key driver of economic diversification, industrial development and national prosperity under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

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