N570bn Hardship Fund World Bank Loan To States, Makinde Counters Tinubu

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has disagreed with President Bola Tinubu that the federal government disbursed N570 billion to states to combat hardship.

He noted that this was a case of misinformation, as the money is a credit facility of the World Bank to states and that the federal government only acted as an intermediary.

Osun Defender reported that President Tinubu, in his nationwide address on Sunday, said, “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.”

Dissatisfied with the President’s claim, Makinde, in a statement, said, “Before I speak more on further actions we have taken to show our commitment to productivity and sustainability, let me respond to a long message I received earlier in the week from a concerned citizen.

“The message was about a purported N570 billion Hardship Fund “given” to the 36 States by the Federal Government. I was queried about what I used the money for.”

He described the information as a misrepresentation of facts.

READ: Autonomy: Oyo Chiarmen Pull Out Of ALGON

“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. CARES means COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus,” he said.

He noted that the states spent the money in advance and after the World Bank verified how much was spent, it then reimbursed the state governments through the federal government.

“It was called Programme for Results because States had to use their money in advance to implement the programme. After the World Bank verified the amount spent by the State, it reimbursed the States through the platform provided at the Federal level,” he said.

He emphasised that the federal government did not give Oyo state any money.

“The Federal Government did not give any State money; they were simply the conduit through which the reimbursements were made to States for money already spent,” Makinde said.

“It is important to note that the World Bank fund is a loan to States, not a grant. So, States will need to repay this loan. Note also that NG-CARES, which we christened Oyo-CARES in our State, predates the present federal administration.

“So, 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) we invested in the three result areas of NG-CARES, which includes inputs distribution to smallholder farmers within our State.

“In fact, when the World Bank saw our model for the distribution of inputs preceded by biometric capturing of beneficiary farmers, they adopted it as the NG-CARES model,” Makinde added.