Nigerian Govt disburses N135.4bn to states, FCT under COVID-19 recovery programme

The Federal Government has disbursed N135.4 billion to states and the Federal Capital Territory, following the second Independent Assessment of Results achieved under the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus programme in a move to address multi-dimensional poverty and support vulnerable Nigerians.

The National Coordinator of the NG-CARES Programme, Abdulkarim Obaje, revealed this in a statement by the Information and Communication Officer of NG-CARES, Suleiman Odapu, on Sunday in Abuja.

NG-CARES Programme is a World Bank- State support operation implemented in all 36 states and FCT.

The programme aims to mitigate the economic and social shocks faced by poor and vulnerable Nigerians as a result of the lockdown during the COVID-19 crisis.

The project is structured as a Programme for Results, reimbursing states and the FCT for their expenditures if they implement the project as prescribed in the Financing Agreement, the Funds Release Policy, and the Independent Verification Agent Protocol.

Obaje said the funds were disbursed based on the results achieved by the states and FCT in their efforts at supporting poor and vulnerable Nigerians under the NG-CARES programme and addressing multi-dimensional poverty in the country.

The statement added that the “top three best performing states in this Second Round of Assessment are Nasarawa which earned N13,697,828,496.96, Cross River N10,944,747,818.84 and Zamfara N10,231,055,267.82.”