Nasarawa, C’River get lion share as states receive N135bn aid

The Federal Government has disbursed N135.4 billion to states and the Federal Capital Territory following the second Independent Assessment of Results obtained under the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus.

The National Coordinator of the NG-CARES Programme, Dr. Abdulkarim Obaje, conveyed this information in a statement released by Suleiman Odapu, the Information and Communication Officer at NG-CARES, on Sunday.

The NG-CARES initiative, supported by the World Bank with a budget of $750m is a multi-sectoral programme aimed at providing essential emergency relief to vulnerable and poor Nigerians, with a particular focus on supporting smallholder farmers and MSMEs severely impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Obaje noted that the fund allocation was linked to the results achieved by states and the FCT in their efforts to assist the underprivileged under the NG-CARES initiative.

He highlighted that Nasarawa, Cross Rivers, and Zamfara emerged as the top performers, securing N13.6bn, N10.9bn, and N10.2bn, respectively, in the second round of the programme assessment.

”The top three best-performing states in this Second Round of Assessment are Nasarawa which earned N13,697,828,496.96, Cross River N10,944,747,818.84, and Zamfara N10,231,055,267.82.

“This is a milestone achievement in the efforts of President Bola Tinubu's administration at providing funds towards addressing multi-dimensional poverty in the country,” Obaje noted.

Additionally, he commended the Minister for Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, for coordinating the NG-CARES programme at the federal level, encompassing states and the FCT.

The national coordinator also lauded the support from state governors, the FCT minister, and the World Bank.

The PUNCH reported in January 2022 that former Nigeria's Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo had launched NG-CARES.

Osinbajo commented that “the World Bank loan is in the order of $750m and this will be over two years (2021-2023); the intervention allocation to each state is $20m and $15m to the FCT; there is also $15m for the Federal Cares Support Unit.”