Gov. Muhammadu Badaru of Jigawa on Tuesday unveiled the COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme in the state.
NG-CARES programme is being implemented by the Federal Government in partnership with state governments and the World Bank.
It is designed to expand access to livelihood support and food security services, and grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms.
Represented by his deputy, Alhaji Umar Namadi, the governor said the programme aimed at addressing the socioal and economic disruptions and hardship caused by the pandemic.
According to him, a report by the World Bank indicated that extreme poverty rate is likely to rise by couple of percentage in the country, adding that the number of extreme poor people would increase between 10 and 15 million by 2022.
Badaru said the programme would revive and expand access to livelihood support, food security and provide grants for vulnerable households and businesses.
“In its efforts to ensure the successful implementation of the programme, Jigawa government has so far injected N1.7 billion.
“Today’s event is to symbolically launch the J-CARES grant disbursement and other support services to be provided under its various platforms,” he said.
The governor commended members of J-CARES steering committee, the coodinating unit and the various delivery platforms for ensuring the success of the programme.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Special Duties, Awwal Sankara, said that 4,520 beneficiaries would benefit under the programme in the state.
He said the beneficiaries comprised 3,000 under the agricultural inputs and services while 1,520 others under the Labour Intensive Agricultural Infrastructure, among others.
“For today’s official launching of this programme, 1,580 bags of NPK and 790 bags of Urea brand of fertilisers with 1,580 litres of agro chemicals will be given to 790 farmers,” he said.
He lauded the federal government and the Wold Bank for the release of N700 million under the first tranche to fast track implementation of the NG-CARES programme in the state.
“The state government subsequently release N1 billion for the smooth take up of the programme”. (NAN)
