Nigeria's finance ministry asks World Bank for $8.93m loan to buy office furniture and stationery

NIGERIA'S finance minister has asked the World Bank for a fresh $8.93m loan to enable it procure consumable items such as office furniture and stationery as a result of the current cash crunch that has left the country with a budget deficit.

Due to the debilitating effect of the coronavirus pandemic, Nigeria is totally unable to fund its annual budget, with about a third of the 2020 and 2021 budgets being financed by borrowing. Even before the pandemic struck, Nigeria was reeling from the effects of low crude oil prices but with the shutdown as a result of Covid-19, the country has become dependent on lenders like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank to fund its budgets.

For instance, about a third of the 2021 $33bn budget was funded by external borrowing as the Nigerian economy showed no signs of generating enough revenue to finance it. With the economic crisis showing no sign of abating, the Home Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has requested this additional loan to procure 21 items, including office stationery, office furniture, office supplies, office equipment, and vehicles.

This request was made under the federal government's State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Project (SFTAS), which was initiated in 2018.  The SFTAS project was designed to strengthen transparency and accountability at the sub-national level and will end this year.

A total of $1.5bn was committed to the project in two batches of $750m (December 2018 and December 2020) by the World Bank. Although the money is a grant to state governments, it is a loan to the federal government.

According to the procurement plan for the SFTAS project, the Home Finance Department requested an estimated $25,713 to acquire office stationery and supplies. There was then another $33,000 request for office equipment and supplies for the SFTAS Programme Coordinating Unit (PCU).

For the furniture items, the department requested $64,190 for furnishing and equipping SFTAS public service institute space, $17,000 for additional office furniture and partitioning of the STFAS office, as well as $17,250 for additional office equipment and furniture for the Debt Management Office (DMO). The department also requested $25,000 for the procurement of video conferencing equipment for the SFTAS PCU and MiFi modems for the DMO.

However, the biggest request was for the provision of spatial data to states, which was estimated at $8m. There was also a $291,804 request for the procurement of project vehicles for the PCU and independent verification agent.