The total amount disbursed by the FG to state governments under the World Bank-Assisted States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme stands at ₦471.9 billion. The last tranche of disbursements under the programme to state governments will take place in October. The SFTAS National Programme Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr Stephen Okon, disclosed in Abuja on Wednesday that the total sum of ₦471.9 billion has so far been disbursed to the 36 states of the federation. The disbursements were made “following the achievement of results in different Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) in the Annual Performance Assessments (APAs) (2018, 2019 and 2020) carried out by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation as the Independent Verification Agent (IVA).” As the $1.5 billion World Bank-Assisted States Fiscal Transparency Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme draws to a close, the federal government has indicated an interest in the continuation of the programme. Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, the SFTAS Programme Communication Specialist, speaking on behalf of Okon, explained: “As part of its strategies to ensure the sustainability of fiscal reforms at the sub-national level, the SFTAS Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) was engaging stakeholders on the demand side like the CSOs who can ensure that fiscal transparency and accountability are sustained in state PFM activities.”
Twenty-three of Nigeria’s 36 states are affected by seasonal flooding, with northeastern states particularly hard-hit this year. Half a million Nigerians have been affected by floods caused by heavy rains since the start of the year, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday. “The destructive floods have displaced 73,379 people,” caused more than 100 casualties, and injured about another 270 people, Buhari said in a statement. In Maiduguri, the regional capital of northeast Borno, the epicentre of the country’s more than decade-long jihadist insurgency, people displaced by the conflict have seen their farms and homes destroyed by flooding. Flooding is common in many parts of Nigeria during the rainy season which runs from May to September. A decade ago, Nigeria suffered disastrous floods across most of its states, leaving hundreds dead and more than two million homeless.
The total value of capital importation into Nigeria in the second quarter of 2022 stood at US$1.535.35 billion from US$875.62 million in the corresponding quarter of 2021, showing an increase of 75.34%. When compared to the preceding quarter, capital importation decreased by 2.40% from US$1.573.14 billion. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) made this known in its document titled: Nigerian Capital Importation Q2 2022 on Wednesday. According to the document, the largest amount of capital importation was received through Portfolio Investment, which accounted for 49.33% (US$757.32 million). According to the NBS, this was followed by Other Investment with 41.09% (US$630.87 million) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) accounted for 9.58% (US$147.16 million) of total capital imported in Q2 2022. The report added: “Disaggregated by Sectors, capital importation into banking had the highest inflow of US$646.36 million amounting to 42.10% of total capital imported in the second quarter of 2022. “This was followed by capital imported into the production sector, valued at US$233.99 million (15.24%), and the financing sector with US$197.31 million (12.85%). Capital Importation by country of origin reveals that the United Kingdom ranked top as the source of capital imported into Nigeria in the second quarter of 2022 with a value of US$781.05 million, accounting for 50.87%. The NBS noted that by investment destination, Lagos remained the top destination in Q2 2022 with US$1,054.18 million, accounting for 68.66% of total capital investment into Nigeria.
Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 14 civilians and kidnapped more than a dozen others in an attack in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a witness and a local human rights group said on Wednesday. An army spokesman confirmed the attack, which took place in Ituri province on Tuesday evening. He blamed it on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan militia active in eastern Congo since the 1990s, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The army killed five fighters and rescued a five-year-old girl who had been kidnapped, spokesman Antony Mwalushayi said. He did not give a civilian death toll. Gilbert Sivamwenda, president of the local human rights group for the chiefdom of Babila Babombi, said there were 16 dead in Biakato including 14 civilians and two ADF fighters. About 15 farmers were also missing and several other people could not be found and were not responding to calls, Sivamwenda said.