The Bank of Industry (BOI) on Friday updated the public on the implementation and disbursement of grants under the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Programme (NG-CARES).
The bank stated that the clarification became imperative in view of the numerous public enquiries on the NG-CARES as they related to eligibility criteria and processing of application, especially with over one million applications it had received for the programme.
Clarifying on the processes that must be followed to enable an applicant benefit from the programme, the development finance bank maintained that states were solely responsible for nominating the beneficiaries and selecting those to be disbursed to, following successful verification.
It explains that NG-CARES is an initiative of the World Bank and the Federal Government of Nigeria, to support the recovery of communities, households, and businesses affected by COVID-19 and that the programme is state-owned, as state governments are fully responsible for funding and selection of beneficiaries.
Specifically, the bank pointed out that this funding arrangement allowed each state the autonomy to allocate their preferred grant sizes and number of grants across different program components as approved by the World Bank.
It clarified: “Based on the Bank of Industry (BOI)’s successful track record of building field networks and technology infrastructure for the transparent implementation of MSME intervention programs, the World Bank nominated the Bank to provide this infrastructure for the delivery of the MSME Component of NG-CARES (RA3) nationwide.
“Following this nomination, 28 out of 33 States chose BOI as their preferred execution partner to leverage the Bank’s MSME infrastructure to deliver NG-CARES.
“Under this partnership, the States are solely responsible for nominating the beneficiaries and selecting those to be disbursed to, following successful verification. BOI’s role as execution partner is to manage the end-to-end application and verification processes, and present successful candidates to enable states’ decision-making for disbursements. BOI disburses as instructed by the State.
“So far, BOI has received over 1 million applications for the NG-CARES MSME grants across states. While several beneficiaries may apply or be nominated, beneficiaries do not receive the grant if they do not meet the criteria to qualify, or if their state does not select them for disbursement as the state seeks to manage the funding available for the program and ensure the equitable distribution of benefits across business categories, Local Government Areas, gender or other demographics”, the bank added.
It also advised that further enquiries on the eligibility requirements, implementation status, and other programme information can be made through the NG-CARES Federal CARES Support Unit, State delivery agencies, or the official programme website.
