Governors of Oyo and Nasarawa States, Seyi Makinde and Abdullahi Sule, have faulted the claim of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that more than N570billion had been released by his administration to the 36 states of the federation to fight hunger.

Tinubu had during the nationwide broadcast to address the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests against hunger and hardship claimed that his administration had disbursed ₦570bn to the 36 states.

“Also, more than ₦570bn 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,” Tinubu said.

Both Makinde and Sule have faulted the claim saying no such money was disbursed to any state but rather a World Bank loan which was disbursed to cushion the effect of COVID-19 under NG-CARES project.

HorizonTimes confirmed that the project also predates the current administration as the first disbursement was done before Tinubu was sworn in as President.

Speaking through a newsletter personally signed by him and shared on his X handle, Governor Makinde said the state was not in the know of any N570 billion grant.

He said: “I responded to a question from a concerned citizen of Oyo State regarding the claim that the Federal Government ‘gave’ States over N570 billion as some kind of ‘hardship fund’ for citizens.

“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 the 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.

“It is important to note that the World Bank fund is a loan to States, not a grant. So, States will need to repay this loan. Note also that NG-CARES, which we christened Oyo-CARES in our State, predates the present federal administration.”

The governor further explained that the loan came in two tranches to states.

According to him, Oyo State got ₦5.98 billion in the first tranche and ₦822 million in the second tranche.

“So, in direct response to the message, the Federal Government did not give Oyo State any money. We were reimbursed funds (₦5.98 billion in the first instance and ₦822 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,” governor Makinde added.

Makinde is the second Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor to have tackled Tinubu over the speech in recent times.

Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi had described the speech as empty.

Governor Sule, during a live programme on Channels TV said the second disbursement came November 2023

The actual amount was credited to every other states sometimes around January and February, depending on the state.

“Indeed Nasarawa the total amount of the N135b Nasarawa State came first by getting N13.6 billion, over 10% of the total amount. But that money is meant for certain project, it is almost like a regimented loan from the World Bank at no interest.

“It was to support the states and started around 2020. The first disbursement was done before Mr President came in May 2023, the second disbursement was when Mr President was there and the third disbursement was done in June this year, it was advertised.

“The only thing the state would like to explain so that the people will understand is that it was not meant to cushion the effect of the economy hardship that the people are facing, because this is the money that is tied to certain projects.

“For instance in Nasarawa State, out of the money was used for the construction of 15 kilometer rural roads in every one of the 13 local government areas, we ended up doing over 227 kilometers of these rural roads in the state.

“We supposed to go into the communities where there’s no water and actually have boreholes drilled for them and solar power; we supposed to also go into what we called cash transfer where 2,000 people for 12 months will be given N10, 000 each; we supposed to go for Primary Healthcare Units where everyone…So, the money are tied to certain projects, the money is not for rice, palliatives or anything in that line.”

Many Nigerians, including a senior lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), a human rights crusad­er and the Chair of Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Be­yond (ASCAB), have since the announcement challenged states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to explain how they spent the N573 billion.

However, he admitted that the programme started before now with the disbursement of N112 billion by the Muhammadu Bu­hari administration to states and FCT to fight poverty.

He stressed that the last tranche of N438 billion was part of the World Bank loan of $750 million which will be paid back by the Nigerian people as repre­sented by their governors.

However, it was understood that the claims which have come in different forms, all unfairly directed at allegedly setting the people against gov.

“In actual fact, the money came from the World Bank, the Federal Government was merely a channel of disbursement of the loan, since states cannot on their own access foreign loans.

“So it is totally incorrect to say the Federal Government gave states N573 billion to cushion hardship occasion by reforms em­barked upon by this government. The disbursements are in phases and predated this government,” a highly placed source said.

The NG-CARES (Communi­ty Action for Resilience and Eco­nomic Stimulus) programme began in 2020-2021 as a World Bank-funded initiative to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pan­demic on the people, especially smallholding farmers, business­es, and vulnerable households, among others.

The objective of NG-CARES was to expand access to liveli­hood support and food security services and grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms.

However, for clarity, checks revealed that the World Bank Programme for Results (PforR) interventions involved states and the FCT investing their funds, producing results in line with agreed protocols, and getting reimbursed after an independent verification exercise.

“It is unfair, therefore, for any­one to portray such reimburse­ments as some free money do­nated to the states by the Federal Government to cushion hardship resulting from reforms initiated by the government.

“By doing that, they create unnecessary attacks on the gov­ernors. This is most unfortunate. Anambra State, for example, opted out of the NG-CARES pro­gramme because it refused to accept the loan conditions. So, it is a loan, not a free gift. And for the avoidance of any doubt, the president did not and has not disbursed any money to the state governors to ameliorate the hun­ger in the land,” the source added.

Another state that did not want to get involved, a source pointed, was Imo, which was not very comfortable with the condi­tions laid down by the lender.