Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has disputed President Tinubu’s claim that the federal government granted N570 billion to the 36 states.
Makinde clarified that the funds were World Bank COVID-19 funds, not a direct allocation from the federal government.
It can be recalled that President Tinubu while addressing the nation on Sunday, announced that his administration gave N570 billion to the 36 states as a palliative measure.
Tinubu appealed to those protesting to halt their demonstration for dialogue.
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.”
However, in a newsletter published on the Oyo State website, Governor Makinde explained that the World Bank reimbursed states for their COVID-19 expenses, with the federal government acting as an intermediary. He emphasized that the funding was a loan, not a grant, and predates Tinubu’s administration.
Makinde revealed that Oyo State received N5.98 billion and N822 million in reimbursements for its investments in the NG-CARES program. He noted that the World Bank adopted Oyo State’s model for input distribution to smallholder farmers as the NG-CARES model.
“Before I speak more on further actions we have taken to show our commitment to productivity and sustainability, let me respond to a long message I received earlier in the week from a concerned citizen.
“The message was about a purported N570 billion Hardship Fund “given” to the 36 States by the Federal Government. I was queried about what I used the money for.
“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 said.
He added, “It is important to note that the World Bank fund is a loan to States, not a grant. So, States will need to repay this loan. Note also that NG-CARES, which we christened Oyo-CARES in our State, predates the present federal administration.
So, in direct response to the message, the Federal Government 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.”