Gov Sule Confirms THISDAY’s Story, Says N573bn was World Bank Loan, Not Grant By FG to States to Cushion Current Hardship

*Insists it was tied to ameliorating impact of COVID-19

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, yesterday confirmed a THISDAY story published on Wednesday indicating that the purported disbursement of N573 billion to subnational governments announced by President Bola Tinubu last Sunday during a nationwide protest predated his administration.
Sule, in an interview with Channels Television yesterday stressed that the World Bank loan received by states was for infrastructural projects and not to cushion the effects of hardship faced by Nigerians.

The governor explained that states received the money in batches with the latest having been received in June, stressing that it was a loan and not free funds and was initiated in 2020.
“The money is tied to certain projects. It is almost like a regimented loan from the World Bank. The money is not for rice, it is not for palliatives, it is not for anything in that line,” he said.

He added: “That money came from the World Bank and that was the second disbursement which came November last year. The account amount was credited to the account of every other state, sometime around January.”

The governor explained that during the second tranche received by states, Nasarawa received N13.6 billion, representing over 10 per cent of the amount.
When asked about the per cent given for the repayment, the governor said: “The World Bank is actually doing it at no interest. The reason is because it was coming to support states because of the COVID-19. It actually started around the year 2020.

“The first disbursement was done even before Mr President actually came in May 2023. The third disbursement was the one done in June that was advertised. Every state has been credited and no state is denying it,” he stressed.

According to him, there were supposed to be three instalments, stressing that that the  had been disbursed to all the states.
“The only thing that the state would like to explain so that people will understand, it was not meant to go and cushion the effects of the economic hardship that people are facing. Because this is money that is tied to certain projects. For instance, in Nasarawa State, part of the money was to be used for the construction of 15-kilometre rural roads in every one of the 30 local government areas.

“At least 15 kilometres. It’s supposed to go into communities where there is no water, and actually have boreholes drilled for them and solar power. It’s supposed to go also into what they call cash transfer, where 2,000 people for 12 months will be given N10,000 each. It’s supposed to go also for primary health care units, where everyone has to be given.

“So the money is tied to certain projects. The money is not for rice. It’s not for palliatives. It’s not for anything in that line. But in some ways, it’s supposed to serve to alleviate poverty. Like the cash transfer.
“All of them are supposed to alleviate poverty. For instance, the World Bank identified certain roads that have to be done in our state. And they selected all these roads one after another.

“And I will give you an example of one. It’s an area where there is a lot of agricultural activity, a lot of post-harvest wastages, because the people didn’t have the opportunity to bring out all these things. So by the time that we constructed these roads, the people were happy.
“They were able to bring out all their produce to the market. And it empowered them to reduce the level of poverty in those kind of communities. Other places  it had to do with health, with education, with agriculture.
“So in Nasarawa State, for instance, the total number of people who have benefited from the one we received amounted actually to 259,754 beneficiaries. They all benefited from this particular programme,” he added.

He stated that the World Bank must then inspect to ensure that states have met all the requirements before the minister or the Ministry of Budget and Planning will submit to the bank for approval before monies are released.

Sule described it as a ‘regimented facility’, stressing that even when he reverted to the bank for the projects to be spread to other areas, the bank maintained that they must be restricted to the ones agreed upon.

The N573 billion purportedly released to Nigeria’s sub-national governments as announced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during his nationwide broadcast last Sunday was a World Bank-funded programme to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, THISDAY had reported.

Tinubu had said during the broadcast that over N570 billion had been released to the 36 states of the federation to expand livelihood support to vulnerable citizens.

He said: “Also, more than N570 billion has been released to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens, while 600,000 nano-businesses have benefitted from our nano-grants. An additional 400,000 more nano-businesses are expected to benefit.”

Specifically, THISDAY checks revealed that claims that the federal government released N573,848,799,707.26 to the 36 state governors to address hunger or hardship was  not factual as it was not free money but a loan from the global bank.

Many Nigerians, including a senior lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN) a  human rights crusader and the Chair, of Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), had since the announcement challenged states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to explain how they spent the N573 billion.