President Bola Tinubu disagrees with Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, the Deputy Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, regarding the assertion made during the national broadcast on Sunday that N570 billion had been released to the 36 states of the Federation.
The counterclaim was made by Governor Makinde in a newsletter that was posted on the state website on Thursday. According to Makinde, the money that was distributed was not a direct gift from the federal government.
Governor Makinde clarified that the money obtained by the states was, in fact, the COVID-19 funding from the World Bank, which refuted President Tinubu's assertion that the largess came from the federal government served just as a go-between for the 36 states and the international creditor.
The comment appeared to be in response to an open letter that concerned citizen A.M. Ashagidigbi had written to him in a widely shared post, asking for details on the state government's purported N570 billion expenditure.
In the letter, Ashagidigbi had written, "Your Excellency, our beloved governor, I wish to humbly request that you mandate your Commissioner for Information, or any relevant media office, to provide the people of Oyo State with the following information as a matter of urgent public importance:
When did Oyo State receive its portion of the funds; how much was given to our state; and how was the funding distributed among the 33 local governments in our state and who and who were the beneficiaries of these cash, as well as how the money was divided among our people?
The citizen also wrote to inquire about if the funds were allocated to finish ongoing capital projects, when the state government would accept delivery of the twenty trucks of rice, and whether or not the state's citizens would profit from the rice deliveries.
The letter had asked, "Your Excellency, our people deserve to know exactly what is happening to their money."
But in the statement, Governor Makinde stated, "Let me respond to a lengthy message I received earlier this week before I speak more about the additional steps we have taken to demonstrate our commitment to productivity and sustainability." from a worried citizen.
The message discussed an alleged N570 billion "hardship fund" that the federal government had "given" to the 36 states. I was asked what I had done with the money.
"Let me say up front that this is just another instance of facts being misrepresented. The NG-CARES initiative, a Programme for Results intervention, was supported by the World Bank and included the aforementioned funding.
"An intervention to assist States in Nigeria with COVID-19 Recovery was facilitated by the World Bank." COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus is referred to as CARES.
Because the States had to use their funds in advance to carry out the program, it was named the Programme for Results. Following its verification of the State's expenditure, the World Bank paid the States back via the federally granted platform.
Makinde clarified that the funding was contingent on what the states had already spent on COVID-19 programs, meaning that the World Bank was simply reimbursing what the states had used to address the pandemic crisis. He further explained that the funding disbursed by the World Bank to the state was not a grant, but rather a loan that is expected to be paid back by each state. Makinde called the loan NG-Cares, because the facilities were received in different batches prior to Tinubu's administration Reimbursement for the State government's investment in the program totaled N5.98 billion in the first instance and N822 million in the second.
It is crucial to remember that the World Bank financing is a loan, not a grant, to the States. States will therefore have to pay back this borrowing. Also take note of the fact that NG-CARES, which our state dubbed Oyo-CARES, existed before the current federal government.
Therefore, the Federal Government did not provide Oyo State with any funding in direct response to the message. We have returned the money we invested in the three NG-CARES result areas—input distribution to smallholder farmers in our state—for a total of N5.98 billion in the first instance and N822 million in the second.
"Actually, Makinde continued, "The World Bank used our technique, known as the NG-CARES model, for the delivery of inputs prior to the biometric capture of beneficiary farmers.
Remember that during the broadcast, President Tinubu said that N570 billion had been distributed to the 36 States as a temporary fix to improve the financial situation of the populace.
According to Tinubu, the State was given this enormous amount as a gift by the federal government.
Additionally, more than N570 billion has been made available to the 36 states to promote their residents' livelihoods, and our nano-grants have benefited 600,000 nano-businesses," he stated. It is anticipated that 400,000 more nanobusinesses will gain from this.
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