Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has clarified that the N570 billion reportedly released to governors was not a handout or bailout from Chief Bola Tinubu’s administration, but rather part of a World Bank-assisted loan project.
Speaking on Thursday, Makinde explained that the funds were related to the NG-CARES (COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus) project, a World Bank initiative designed to assist Nigerian states in recovering from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“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,” Tinubu claimed as Nigerians protests on the streets against hunger and bad governance.
Makinde emphasized that the federal government [Tinubu] did not provide states with any direct financial assistance. Instead, states were reimbursed for funds they had already spent on the NG-CARES program, after verification by the World Bank.
According to Makinde, Oyo State was reimbursed N5.98 billion in the first instance and N822 million in the second.
The Oyo governor revealed, “Let me state categorically that this is yet another case of misrepresentation of facts. The said funds were part of the World Bank-assisted NG-CARES project—a programme for results intervention. The World Bank facilitated an intervention to help States in Nigeria with COVID-19 Recovery. CARES means COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus. It was called ‘Programme for Results’ because states had to use their money in advance to implement the programme.
“After the World Bank verified the amount spent by the state, it reimbursed the states through the platform provided at the federal level. The federal government did not give any State money; they were simply the conduit through which the reimbursements were made to states for money already spent.”
Makinde also noted that the funds were part of a loan and not a grant, meaning each state is responsible for repayment. He highlighted that the NG-CARES program, which was named Oyo-CARES in Oyo State, predates the current federal administration.
The governor added, “So, in direct response to the message, the federal fovernment did not give Oyo state any money. We have reimbursed funds (N5.98 billion in the first instance and N822 million in the second instance) we invested in the three result areas of NG-CARES, which includes inputs distribution to smallholder farmers within our State.
“In fact, when the World Bank saw our model for the distribution of inputs preceded by biometric capturing of beneficiary farmers, they adopted it as the NG-CARES model.”
Follow the Parallel Facts channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaCQSAoHgZWiDjR3Kn2E
