Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has denied receiving any part of the ₦570 billion hardship grant that President Bola Tinubu claimed was distributed to all 36 states by the Federal Government.
President Tinubu, during his recent national address on the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests, mentioned the grant as part of wider financial measures, including ₦2 trillion monthly on fuel imports and ₦9.1 trillion in federal revenue for the first half of 2024.
“Also, more than ₦570 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 nan0-businesses are expected to benefit,” the President said.
Makinde responded in a newsletter, clarifying that the funds mentioned were not a grant but reimbursements from the World Bank under the NG-CARES programme, a COVID-19 recovery initiative, where states were initially required to spend their own funds and later received repayments through federal channels.
The Governor stressed that the state was not in the know of such a grant from the Nigerian government.
The Newsletter partly reads:
“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.
“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 were 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.”