Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has refuted claims that President Bola Tinubu’s administration distributed N570 billion as a handout to the 36 states of the federation.
The clarification follows President Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast on Sunday, in which he announced the release of over N570 billion to the states to bolster livelihood support amidst nationwide protests against hunger and corruption.
In his address, President Tinubu stated, “Also, more than N570 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 nano-businesses are expected to benefit.”
However, in a statement on Thursday, Governor Makinde provided context, explaining that the N570 billion referenced by the President was not a federal bailout but rather part of the World Bank-assisted Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) project.
This initiative was designed to aid states in recovering from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Makinde emphasized, “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.”
The governor further clarified that the NG-CARES programme was structured as a “Programme for Results,” meaning that states had to initially use their own resources to implement various projects under the initiative.
Following verification by the World Bank, these expenses were then reimbursed through a federal platform.
Makinde stressed that the federal government did not directly provide any funds to the states but merely acted as a conduit for the reimbursements.
He continued, “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) that we invested in the three result areas of NG-CARES, which includes input distribution to smallholder farmers within our state.”
Governor Makinde also highlighted that the World Bank loan was not a grant and that each state is expected to repay the loan.
He pointed out that the NG-CARES program, known locally as Oyo-CARES, predated the current federal administration, underscoring that it was not a recent initiative by President Tinubu.
Makinde praised the effectiveness of Oyo State’s implementation of the programme, noting that the World Bank had adopted the state’s model for input distribution, which included biometric capturing of beneficiary farmers, as the standard for the NG-CARES initiative nationwide.
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