Ms Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, has commended the World Bank for its various interventions in the country.
She praised the Bank for particularly coming to the aid of the poor, vulnerable and businesses that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Farouq spoke at an official handing over of 40 operational vehicles of the State CARES Coordinating Unit (SCCU) to the Minister of State, Finance, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, on Wednesday in Abuja.
“Let me also commend the efforts of the steering committee for N-CARES and the Federal Cares Technical Committee for their efforts in ensuring that the intervention from the World Bank gets to the people at the grassroots.
“There is no doubt that the assistance from the World Bank will impact on the beneficiaries as well as contribute to the rebuilding of the economy and prosperity in Nigeria,” she said.
Farouq expressed the belief that the vehicles would go a long way in assisting the State Coordinators of the programme in carrying out the herculean task of alleviating the suffering of ordinary people in the country.
The minister, therefore, urged the states and the FCT to ensure adequate utilisation of the vehicles and the resources from the World Bank to bring happiness to the people.
Responding, Agba noted that the severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt across the world with significant consequences on informal businesses.
He said that households that survive on daily income and also peasant farmers who depend on their farm produce to survive were mostly affected.
“As part of government’s measures to mitigate these and other effects of COVID-19, the Federal Government has approved the Nigeria COVID-19 Actions Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme.
COVID-19: Over 3m vulnerable persons need vaccine – Minister
“The NG-CARES programme is a multi-sectoral programme designed to provide immediate emergency relief to the vulnerable and poor Nigerians.
“Other beneficiaries were smallholder farmers and SMEs that were adversely affected by the pandemic using a World Bank 750 million dollar loan over a period of two years (2021-2023).
“The programme is an emergency one to be driven and implemented by the 36 States, and the FCT, using the Programme for Result (PForR) delivery mechanism within three results areas that have the option of 11 Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) at the State.
“This is with some technical support coming through the Federal CARES Support Unit (FCSU) to provide support to the States,” Agba said.
The minister said that to ensure the implementation of the NG-CARES was in line with the Federal Government priorities.
“A preparatory team was set up by my ministry, the Federal CARES Preparatory Team in collaboration with the World Bank Nigeria Team and the States, including the FCT, which worked tirelessly over the past 8 months on the programme for a seamless takeoff.
“This event is one of the outcomes of the several efforts from the collaboration,” he said.
Agba explained that the intervention allocation to each state was 20 million dollars and 15 million dollars to FCT, while 15 million dollars was for the Federal CARES Support Unit (FCSU).
He said that the effectiveness date of the NG-CARES programme was June 30, adding that the Federal and state were required to meet the effectiveness conditions before the declaration.
Agba encouraged the State CARES Coordinators to deploy their wealth of experiences and expertise in undertaking their assignments and to ensure the successful takeoff and implementation of the NG-CARES programme at the sub-national levels.
