The Federal Government has announced the reimbursement of ₦438.3 billion to 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES).
Eighteen states from northern Nigeria plus Abuja have cumulatively received the sum of ₦283.6 billion as their reimbursement for NG-CARES programme.
The fund is a World Bank-supported project designed to improve livelihood support and food security services to the less privilege and vulnerable as part of community resilience post Covid-19.
In an advertorial published by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning on Monday, the northern states reimbursed amount represents 64.68% of the funds. However, there were no details of reimbursement for Kaduna State.
Breakdown
According to data, Zamfara has the highest amount of N49.1b and distantly followed by Nasarawa (N27.2b), Plateau (26.3b) and Gombe (25.3b).
The analysis further shows that Kebbi got 21.5b, Niger received 17.7b, Adamawa got 17.6b, Katsina and Sokoto received 15.4b and 14.5b respectively.
Yobe got N10.1b, Kwara got N9.9b, Bauchi received N7.3b whereas Kogi, FCT and kano got N6.9b, N6.7b and respectively. Borno, Jigawa, and Taraba got N5.8b, N5.7, N5.5b while Benue received the lowest reimbursement of NN4.9b.
The NG-CARES
The NG-CARES Programme is social protection initiative that states implemented while upon verification, the federal government repay them.
Originally launched as the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme, this initiative has been rebranded to focus on long-term resilience and economic sustainability.
The programme operates under a Results for Results (PforR) framework, which ensures that states receive funds upon achieving agreed-upon outcomes.
According to Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, the latest round of funding follows the third Independent Verification Assessment and reflects the progress made by states and the FCT in implementing their projects.
He commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his administration’s efforts in enabling states and the FCT to invest significantly in the NG-CARES Programme.
The minister also praised the State Governors for their commitment to investing in and building resilience among those living below poverty line and vulnerable Nigerians through the programme.
Nigerians have been battling severe economic hardship in recent times fuelled by the removal of petroleum subsidies as prices of commodities continue to increase making life increasingly hard for Nigerians.
Besides inflation, there are concerns about the increasing security challenges that also exacerbate food shortages and difficulties.
The federal government has in the last two weeks announced that it has donated about 20 trucks of rice to each of Nigeria’s 36 states and Abuja as part of measures to cushion the country’s food crisis.
However, analysts argue that the palliatives would not solve the hardship Nigerians are grappling a, stressing that the poorer ones cannot access it.
A section of Nigerians has been mobilised to start nationwide protests on August 1, under the hashtags #endbadgovernance, #TinubuMustGo and #Revolution2024.
