Oyo State Governor’s Seyi Makinde has denied receiving any amount from a N570 billion hardship allocation that the Federal Government purportedly extended to the 36 states.
In a nationwide broadcast on the heels of the #EndBadGovernance protests against hunger and hardship President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday, August 8, said that the Federal Government had disbursed N570 billion to the 36 states.
“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 nan0-businesses are expected to benefit,” the President said, among several other spending.
However, in a newsletter No. 95 of August 2024 that he personally signed and shared on his X handle on Thursday, Governor Makinde had no record of such a grant.
He tweeted: “Before I speak more on further actions we have taken to show our commitment to productivity and sustainability, let me respond to a long message I received earlier in the week from a concerned citizen.
“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. 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.”
