The Federal Government has released the sum of N135,479,884,677.02 as reimbursement to States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) after the Second Independent Assessment of Results achieved under the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG CARES), a World Bank Assisted Performance For Results Programme.
The National Coordinator of NG-CARES Programme, Dr Abdulkarim Obaje, who announced the disbursement in Abuja on Friday, 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.
“The top three best performing States in this Second Round of Assessment are Nasarawa which earned N13,697,828,496.96, Cross River, which earned N10,944,747,818.84 and Zamfara that got N10,231,055,267.82.
He said this is a milestone achievement in the efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration at providing funds towards addressing multidimensional poverty in the country.
According to a statement by the Information and Communication Officer, NG-CARES, Suleiman Odapu, the National Coordinator commended the Minister for Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, for providing the needed leadership at the federal level to coordinate the implementation of NG-CARES Programme at the States and FCT. He also commended State Governors, the FCT Minister and the World Bank for providing support.
The NG-CARES Programme is an initiative of the Federal Government strategically designed to serve as a shock response mechanism and distribution channel for reaching poor and vulnerable in the country.
It is implemented through 158 integrated Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of all the 36 State Governments and FCT Administration with well proven track record of performance under previous Donor Supported assistance.
The Programme aims “To expand access to livelihood support and food security services and grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms”