By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr Clem Agba, has disclosed that the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will share the $750 million COVID-19 intervention grant of World Bank.
The Minister, while receiving 40 operational vehicles from the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Ms Sadiya Umar Farouq, in Abuja, stated that while the states will receive $20 million each from 2021 to 2023, the FCT will get $15 million within the same period.
He explained that the funds are expected to be used to “provide immediate emergency relief to the vulnerable and poor Nigerians, smallholder farmers and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operators” through a scheme called the National COVID-19 Action Recovery And Economic Stimulus (N-CARES).
According to him, the grant is majorly to cushion the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the programme was an emergency one to be driven and implemented by the 36 states and the FCT “using the Program for Results (PforR) delivery mechanism, within three results areas that have options of 11 Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLI) at the state level with some technical support, coming through the Federal CARES Support Unit (FCSU) to provide support to the states.”
Mr Agba expressed optimism that N-CARES would assist vulnerable Nigerians who were hit by the pandemic, commending Ms Farouq for her special role and untiring efforts in facilitating the preparatory activities of the scheme.
