States are severely lacking in debt management and financial transparency – CBN.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said strategic efforts must be made to fortify States’ capacity in the management of borrowing, debt recording, public financial management reform, and the development of debt management capacity.
Mr Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, stated this in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the training on Subnational Debt Management Performance Assessment Methodology Tool, which was organized by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) in collaboration with the World Bank.
According to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, just seven of the 36 states had completed subnational Debt Management Performance Assessments (DeMPAs) as of 2019. Nigerian states satisfied only three of the 31 debt management elements established by the DeMPA approach on average.
The legal and institutional framework, audit functions, fiscal policy coordination, and debt recordkeeping are particularly deficient. As a result, this session comes at an ideal time to reinforce the capacity-building agenda for state-level officials.