CONTRARY to the claim by President Bola Tinubu that his government supported the 36 states in Nigeria with N570 billion to expand livelihood support for their people, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has revealed that the disbursement was a World Bank loan.
Recall that Tinubu while addressing Nigerians in a nationwide broadcast during the #EndBadGovernance protest on August 4 said, “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 nan-businesses are expected to benefit.”
However, Makinde in a statement he signed and shared on his X handle said the funds were part of the World Bank-assisted NG-CARES project—a Programme for Results intervention.
According to the governor, “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 the 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 states, 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.”
Makinde noted that the loan came in two tranches to states of which Oyo State got ₦5.98 billion in the first tranche and ₦822 million in the second tranche.
He added, “We invested in the three result areas of NG-CARES, which includes inputs distribution to smallholder farmers within our State. 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.”
Makinde is the second governor that has disclaimed the President’s address. The ICIR reported that the Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed taunted Tinubu over his comment on the disbursement and the federal government’s response to demands of the country’s youths protesting against bad governance and hunger.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at [email protected] (jameskennyogunyale@gmail) or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames