From Tony Osauzo, Benin
World Bank has granted a one year extension for the Nigeria Cares (NG-CARE) programme meant to support Micro Small and Medium Scale enterprises to cushion the effects of COVID-19 pandemic which the World Health Organisation recently declared as over.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, announced this, yesterday, at a ministerial town hall meeting in Benin for beneficiaries of the scheme from Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states.
Besides, he said there was also an approval to give cash advancement to the 36 states of the federation since many of them would be getting new governors and the cash crunch occasioned by COVID-19 would affect many of them.
“The effects of COVID-19 is still with us, and that is where the NG-CARES programme is still very apt. So, we all recall that the COVID-19 pandemic, which ravaged many economies in the world, had devastating consequences on the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable individuals, formal and informal businesses, especially the Micro, Small Enterprises. So, it is very, very important that these livelihoods should be kept alive, that people are able to keep their jobs at least if not creating new ones
“We gave one billion naira to each state during the COVID with the exception of Lagos that got N10 billion, Kano got a little more and the Federal Capital Territory because those are epicentres of the pandemic, we still have to get the $750 million World Bank loan to support the states in three basic areas.
“We had a flooding problem last year and it did affect our food security and the supply chains for food so we have to approach the World Bank and say let’s extend this project for another year, to June 2024 and I am glad the task team leaders communicated back to me that we now have approval for that and the official letter will come to me next week from the World Bank.
“I have also sought another approval and that has been approved because I realised the transition is so near. By May 29, you are going to have new sets of governors in most parts of the country and for governors to be struggling through limited funding that they have and how to appropriate all of this and considering the fact that we are extending this programme by one year.”
I have also gotten the approval from the bank to do another set of advanced disbursement to the 36 states so the Federal Government wishes once again to restate its commitment to restoring the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable Nigerians and maintain food security and facilitate the recovery of MSMEs,” Agba said.
At the event, beneficiaries of the programme gave testimony of how the project helped them to recover and build their businesses post COVID.