By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, has reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to restoring the livelihood of the poor and vulnerable Nigerians, by maintaining food security and facilitating the recovery of Medium and Small Enterprises (MSEs).
In a statement by Olatunji Modupe Susan Senior Information Officer in the Ministry, the Minister stated this at the Ministerial Town Hall Meeting on Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme held in Abuja, on Monday.
He said that the meeting was initiated by the Ministry to promote open and transparent governance where citizens’ participatory engagement was further strengthened within the framework of President Buhari’s Government of social accountability.
Agba added that the COVID-19 pandemic which ravaged many economies in the world had devastating consequences on the livelihood of the poor and vulnerable individuals, formal and informal businesses, especially Micro and Small businesses and peasant farmers who relied on daily subsistence income to survive.
The Minister noted that “to mitigate the adverse impact of the Pandemic and lay a solid foundation for a robust economic recovery, the Federal Government enunciated several policy measures under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) which was launched by President, Muhammad Buhari in July 2020, adding that “the ESP laid out policy measures to mobilize funds and other resources to maintain macro-economic stability, stimulate oil and non-oil Government revenues and reduce non-essential spending”.
He further stated that “In furtherance of Government effort to scale up its program under the social protection agenda and to respond swiftly and appropriately to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Government accessed a World Bank concessional loan for US$750 million on behalf of the 36 States and FCT to stimulate the local economy and increase households’ consumption among the poor and vulnerable segment of the society.”
Agba disclosed that “to ensure that implementation of the NG-CARES Programme is fast-tracked in line with the ESP and cognisant of the peculiarities of the country, each State and FCT was given the flexibility to select a minimum of 4 from the list of 11 Disbursement Linked Indicators, noting that the flexibility seeks to improve the partnership between the States and Federal Government in the delivery of pro-poor interventions using existing platforms at the sub-National level.”
Earlier in his address, the Chairman, Federal Cares Technical Committee, Mr Aso Vakporaye, said that the Covid -19 pandemic unleashed some challenges and many people thought that dead bodies would litter the streets of developing countries like Nigeria, where the healthcare system was relatively weak.
Vakporaye explained further that the Programme had recorded tangible results and had positively affected so many poor and vulnerable Nigerians affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic and other shocks across the country.
He applauded the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, for believing on the NG-CARES Programme’s objective towards its contribution to actualizing Mr. President’s agenda of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
The NG-CARES Coordinator, Dr. Abdulkarim Obaje, said that the NG-CARES Programme was a multi-sectorial Programme designed to provide immediate emergency relief to vulnerable and poor Nigerians.
Obaje disclosed that Zamfara State was ranked first, earning N5.273 Billions with 70, 835 beneficiaries, followed by Bauchi and Ondo States which earned N4.232 billions with 43,069 beneficiaries and N3.838 Billion with 56,161 beneficiaries respectively.
