Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has clarified that states did not receive ₦570 billion from the federal government, contrary to recent claims. He criticized the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, for misrepresenting the facts. According to Makinde, the ₦570 billion in question was a loan from the World Bank, not a grant. The federal government merely acted as an intermediary for the funds.
This explanation was provided in a newsletter from the Governor’s office on Thursday.
Makinde emphasized that the funds were part of the World Bank-supported NG-CARES project, which stands for COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus. This project aimed to support states in Nigeria with COVID-19 recovery efforts. The term “Programme for Results” indicates that states had to first spend their own money to implement the program, after which the World Bank reimbursed them through a federal platform. Thus, the federal government did not directly provide money to the states but facilitated the reimbursement of funds already spent.
He highlighted that the World Bank loan is not a grant and states are required to repay it. Makinde noted that the NG-CARES program, which is known as Oyo-CARES in Oyo State, existed before the current federal administration.
He further detailed that the loan was disbursed in two phases: Oyo State received ₦5.98 billion in the first tranche and ₦822 million in the second.
Responding directly to the claims, Makinde reiterated that the federal government did not give Oyo State any funds. Instead, the state was reimbursed ₦5.98 billion and ₦822 million for expenses incurred. These funds were used in three key areas of the NG-CARES program, including the distribution of agricultural inputs to smallholder farmers. The World Bank adopted Oyo State’s model for distributing inputs, which involved biometric capturing of beneficiary farmers, as the standard NG-CARES model.
