The federal government yesterday took a giant step towards economic resilience and support for the vulnerable with the disbursement of over N438 billion to 34 states and Abuja under the Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus programme.
This was disclosed in a statement on Tuesday by the Federal CARES Support Unit Spokesman, Suleiman Odapu. He explained that the national coordinator of the NG-CARES Programme, Abdulkarim Obaje, said the funds were disbursed as performance-based grant for the success achieved by the states and the FCT during the third IVA assessment conducted in January 2024.
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Obaje explained that at the end of the exercise, Zamfara, Nasarawa, and Plateau states emerged top earners, with the sums of N49,182,347,834.58, N27,204,679,444.17, and N26,312,588,262.79, respectively. Places Kaduna and Anambra did not present results for verification at the end of the exercise.
The national coordinator was positive that all 36 states and Abuja would be involved in the fourth IVA exercise, which is due to take place in September 2024. He said that huge reimbursement is to support state governments and the FCT against the challenges of multidimensional poverty. It will enhance existing strides in livelihood and resilience among the poor and vulnerable populations.
“This huge reimbursement is geared at supporting state governments and the FCT in addressing the exacting challenges of multidimensional poverty. It will also enable them to deepen efforts at improving the livelihoods and resilience of the poor and vulnerable segment of the population,” Obaje said.
He said the funds are towards intervention in programmes across states and Abuja, and he is optimistic that the funds shall make highly impactful differences in the lives of many poor and underserved Nigerians. The funds are slanted to a number of projects, notably social safety nets, food security, and small business support, with efforts to see that the aid gets to the poorest and most vulnerable among Nigerians.
The NG-CARES program commenced in the year 2021 to reduce the impacts of socio-economic shock brought upon by COVID-19 and others. Through the NG-CARES program, grant and basic social infrastructure services are delivered to poor communities. It has as its target the poor and the vulnerable, and is scheduled to end in December 2024.
