To access part of the Federal Government’s N90 billion bailout funds, the Cross River State Government MUST meet the following 22 conditions:
1. Publish audited annual financial statements within nine months of financial year end.
2. Comply with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS)
3. Publish state budget online annually
4. Publish budget implementation performance report online quarterly
5. Develop standard IPSAS compliant software to be offered to states for use by state and local governments
6. Set realistic and achievable targets to improve independently generated revenue (from all revenue generating activities of the state in addition to tax collections) and ratio of capital to recurrent expenditure
7. Implement targets
8. Implement a centralised Treasury Single Account (TSA) in each state
9. Have quarterly financial reconciliation meetings with federal government to cover VAT, PAYE remittances, refunds on government projects, Paris Club and other accounts
10. Share the database of companies within each state with the Federal Inland Revenue service (FIRS). The objective is to improve VAT and PAYE collection
11. Introduce a system to allow for the immediate issue of VAT/WHT certificates on payment of invoices. Review all revenue related laws and update obsolete rates/tariffs
12. Set limits on personnel expenditure as a share of total budgeted expenditure
13. Biometric capture of all states’ civil servants will be carried out to eliminate payroll fraud
14. Establish efficiency unit
15. Federal government online price guide to be made available for use by states
16. Introduce a system of continuous audit (internal audit)
17. Create a fixed asset and liability register
18. Consider privatisation or concession of suitable State-owned enterprises to improve efficiency and management
19. Establish a capital development fund to ring- fence capital receipts and adopt accounting policies to ensure that capital receipts are strictly applied to capital projects
20. Domesticate Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA)
21. Attainment and maintenance of a credit rating by each state of the federation
22. Federal government to encourage states to access funds from the capital markets for bankable projects through issuance of fast- track Municipal bond guidelines to support smaller issuances and shorter tenures 23. Comply with the FRA and reporting obligations, including: No commercial bank loans to be undertaken by States; Routine submission of updated debt profile report to the DMO.
Cross River State is said to have received N7.856,400.000.00 as bailout fund from the first exercise. It disbursed N3.140.883.040.77 with a balance of N4.715,516.959.23.
Source: Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja.
