The Federal Government has released over N438 billion reimbursement to the 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme.
The Information and Communication Officer, Federal CARES Support Unit (FCSU), Malam Suleiman Odapu, made this disclosure in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
He quoted the National Coordinator, (NG-CARES) Programme, Dr Abdulkarim Obaje, as explaining that the funds were disbursed based on the results achieved by the states and FCT during the third Independent Verification Agency (IVA) assessment carried out in January 2024.
He stated that from the earned results, Zamfara, Nasarawa and Plateau states received the highest disbursements of N49,182,347,834.58, N27,204,679,444.17 and N26,312,588,262.79 billion respectively.
Obaje, who said that Kaduna and Anambra states did not present results for verification during the exercise, expressed the hope that all 36 states and FCT would participate in the fourth IVA exercise scheduled for September 2024.
The national coordinator further clarified: “This huge reimbursement is aimed at supporting the state governments and the FCT in addressing the pressing challenges of multidimensional poverty.
“It will also enable them to deepen efforts at improving the livelihoods and resilience of the poor and vulnerable segment of the population,” he added.
According to him, the resources are targeted at social intervention programmes in the States and FCT.
While expressing optimism that the resources would be deployed generously to bring succour and improvement to the lives of many poor and underserved Nigerians, Obaje thanked the Federal Government and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, for the initiative.
He noted that it had enabled state governors and the Minister of FCT to invest in NG-CARES with the attendant successes recorded so far under the programme.
The NG-CARES programme, which was flagged off in 2021 will close by December this year, is designed to mitigate the negative impact of the socio-economic shocks occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic.
Similarly, the programme also aimed at addressing other shocks through the provision of grants and basic social infrastructure services in poor communities through sundry disbursement channels such as the social safety nets, food security, and small business supports, among others.
