NG-Cares: Zamfara emerges best performing State, earns FG’s N5.2bn

Zamfara State has emerged the best performing State under the Federal government Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG CARES) Programme.

It has therefore earned the highest sum of N5.273 billion of the total sum of N43.5 billion approved for disbursement to the 36 states of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Northwest state is closely followed by Bauchi state, which received N4.232 billion; Ondo state, N3.838 billion; Lagos State, N3.617 billion and Gombe, N3.396 billion.

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Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba who made the disclosure at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday said out of the 36 States and the FCT that are participating in the NG-CARES Programme, seven States were unable to repay the Advance while One (1) State (Imo) did not earn any Result in the first round.

He further explained that if a State did not receive a reimbursement during the current round, they were still eligible for reimbursement during subsequent rounds, adding that in order to qualify, states must adhere to set guidelines outlined in the Programmes’s Financing Agreement, Funds Release Policy and Independent Verification Agent Protocol.

He pointed out that there would be more assessments and any eligible State or the FCT that met these criteria would receive reimbursement accordingly.

Agba said, “The results of this first round of assessment shows that States and the FCT are improving on their strides to alleviate poverty in line with the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari. The Programme has impacted over two million direct beneficiaries who are poor and vulnerable in the 36 States and the FCT.

“This is a testament to the success of the programme so far. You would recall that in order to ensure a seamless implementation of the programme and noting the challenge of paucity of funds faced by the states and the FCT, the Federal Government provided an initial advance of 35.3 billion Naira to all the 36 States and the FCT in March 2022 with a plan to recover the one-off advance during reimbursement.

“Within one year of giving out the advance, many states were able to achieve appreciable results and this informed the Federal Government’s approval to release earned reimbursement to the states and the FCT based on their outstanding performance”.

The Federal Government had approved the release of N45.3 billion as reimbursement to States and the FCT for the implementation of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG CARES) Programme.

The National Coordinator of NG-CARES Programme, Dr Abdulkarim Obaje, made the disclosure in a statement by Mr Suleiman Odapu, Information and Communication Officer, NG-CARES, on Sunday in Abuja.

Obaje explained that the funds, disbursed on Thursday, April 13, were based on Results each State and FCT earned after a rigorous result verification exercise conducted by an independent Consultant.