Former activist and politician Shehu Sani has responded to Governor Seyi Makinde’s recent justification for the N570 billion in federal funds allotted to the 36 states.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
Sharing the news on his X page on Friday, August 9, 2024, Shehu Sani stressed that the funds were dispersed independently of their source: the Federal Government or the World Bank.
It doesn’t matter if the funds are distributed to the states by the FG or the World Bank, he declared.
Channels reports that Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, denied in a newsletter signed by him and posted on his social media account in August 2024 that the federal government had given states more than N570 billion to use as a “hardship fund” for residents.
The governor elaborated that the aforementioned monies were allocated to the COVID-19 recovery effort by the states as part of the NG-CARES project, which was assisted by the World Bank.
The United States was reimbursed by the World Bank via the federal platform once the bank had confirmed the expenditures. These were not grants, but rather loans, and the governor made it clear that the states would have to pay them back.
Oyo State was repaid N5.98 billion in the first instance and N822 million in the second instance for investments made in the NG-CARES program, which included giving inputs to smallholder farmers, according to the governor. However, the state did not get any funding from the federal government, he added.
The World Bank’s NG-CARES program is based on the distribution model that Oyo State used, as the governor pointed out.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
