Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s claim that the Federal Government disbursed N570bn as hardship grant to the 36 states of the federation describing it as misrepresentation of facts. The governor said the money President Tinubu referred to was from the World Bank as loan for Covid-19 related projects. Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa, while speaking on Channels television programme, Politics Today, also confirmed what Governor Makinde said.

President Bola Tinubu while addressing Nigerians in a broadcast during the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest against hunger and hardship, said the Federal Government has disbursed ¦ 570bn to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens

Reacting to President Tinubu’s claim, Governor Makinde in a newsletter No 95/August 2024 which he personally signed and shared on his X handle last Thursday said what President Tinubu said was not correct.

His words: “I received a long message earlier in the week from a concerned citizen of Oyo State. 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. Let me state categorically that this is yet another case of misrepresentation of facts.

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“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. 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. 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.

“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 included 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.”

Yes, the money states received was from World Bank—Gov Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa

Confirming his Oyo State counterpart while speaking on Channels television on Thursday evening, Governor Sule said, “Yes, it’s true we received money. All states received money but it’s important this is explained. The money was from the World Bank and came in three tranches”.

When asked what they did with the money, Governor Sule said, “they were tied to specific projects. It was money meant for support against Covid-19 but they were tied to projects and we must execute the projects in question. In my state, we did roads and some other things. The last tranche of the money has not been spent, we still have it in the bank”.