The Kaduna State government is set to disburse the sum of N152.4 million as performance grants to the 23 local government councils in the state.
The award which was initiated to stimulate better performance in governance in the councils is being implemented under a special window package tagged Local Government Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (LFTAS) programme.
Muyiwa Adekeye, special adviser to the Kaduna State governor on media and communication, who made this disclosure in a statement made available to BusinessDay on Tuesday, said Zaria and Jema’a local councils got the highest LFTAS incentives of N9.94m and N9.27m, respectively.
According to him, the two councils were followed by Kaduna South, Lere, Giwa, Kaduna North, Kagarko, Zangon-Kataf, Soba, Sabon-Gari, Chikun, Ikara, Jaba, Kauru, Kachia, Kaura, Kajuru, Kudan, Makarfi, Birnin Gwari, Sanga, Igabi, and Kubau.
Read Also: Ehingbeti 2021: Convergence of brains for the good of Lagos
The LFTAS programme was introduced by the Kaduna State Executive Council in June 2018 to strengthen intergovernmental fiscal coordination and support good practice in fiscal behaviour and standards across the 23 local government councils in the state, he explained.
Adekeye said that approval for the disbursement of the grants was given by the State Executive Council, after considering the report of the independent verification agent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on the five disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs) on which the local government councils were assessed.
He further explained that the Executive Council noted that the LFTAS programme is helping to promote reforms in local government administration through improvements in budget planning and preparation, improved public procurement system and adherence to policy documents.
The special adviser revealed that the approved payment of N152.4m to the benefitting councils in the state was for the first tranche of the performance grant.
