Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has countered claims by President Tinubu that the federal government granted N570 billion to the 36 states of the federation, stating that the information is not completely accurate.
In a newsletter signed by the governor and published on the state’s official website on Thursday, Makinde said the funds disbursed was not a direct allocation from the federal government.
The governor clarified that the money received by the states were actually World Bank COVID-19 funds, with the federal government acting only as an intermediary between the international creditor and the 36 states.
He further explained that the funding was contingent on what the states had already spent on COVID-19 programs, meaning the World Bank was simply reimbursing what the states had used to address the pandemic crisis.
What the Governor is Saying
The Statement read as follows:
administration.
“So, in direct response to the message, the Federal Government did not give Oyo State any money. We have 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.
Backstory
Nairametrics earlier reported that President Bola Tinubu announced that his administration has given the total sum of N570 billion to the 36 States as a palliative measure to ameliorate the citizens’ economic condition.
Tinubu made this statement while addressing the nation last Sunday, appealing that those protesting halt their demonstration and return to the negotiation table.
According to the president, the State received this huge sum as a grant from the federal government.
He said, “Also, 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.”
However, the governor of Oyo said this is not the case, as the money received by the States was a loan from the World Bank and not a grant from the federal government.
