COVID-19: FG Effects N45.3bn Reimbursement to States, FCT

James Emejo in Abuja

The federal government has approved the release of N45.3 billion as reimbursement to states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the implementation of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG CARES) programme.

The National Coordinator of the programme, Dr. Abdulkarim Obaje, said the funds were released last Thursday, based on the results each state and FCT earned after a rigorous result verification exercise conducted by an independent consultant.

He said in order to facilitate the smooth take-off of the programme, the federal government had disbursed a one-off recoverable advance of N35.3 billion to all 36 states and the FCT in March 2022.

He added that the beneficiaries have in less than one year, produced results valued at N77.2 billion, and impacting over two million direct beneficiaries.

In a statement issued by the Information and Communication Officer, NG-CARES, Suleiman Odapu, the national coordinator, pointed out that going by the results earned by the states and FCT, significant progress had been made towards achieving the set objectives and targets of the NG-CARES programme.

He said, “The federal government last week Thursday reimbursed the 29 States and FCT  to the tune of  N45.3 billion naira after recovery of the one-off advance. The top three best-performing States in this round of reimbursement are Zamfara State with N5,273,150,000.00 Bauchi State N4,232,200,000.00 and Ondo State N3,838,233,411.00. This is a milestone in the efforts at reducing poverty in the country.”

Obaje, however, appealed to states to use the funds released in line with the financing agreement and the fund’s release policy which all they signed unto.

He also commended key stakeholders in the programme, notably, the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, for providing the needed leadership at the federal level to coordinate the implementation at the States and FCT, State Governors, and the World Bank for providing the credit and technical support.

NG-CARES programme is a federal government initiative supported by the World Bank, and it is implemented in all 36 States and FCT.

The programme aims to expand access to livelihood support and food security services and grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms.