Makinde Refutes Tinubu’s Claims: States Didn’t Receive N570bn from FG

Governor Seyi Makinde disputes claims made by President Tinubu, stating that Nigerian states did not receive the reported N570 billion from the federal government.

Seyi Makinde, the Governor of Oyo State, has refuted President Bola Tinubu’s assertion that the Federal Government allocated N570 billion to all 36 states in Nigeria.

On Thursday, Makinde communicated through a newsletter that he had published on the Oyo State official website.

According to the governor, while acknowledging that reports claiming the Federal Government provided N570 billion to states were not entirely precise, he clarified that the disbursed funds did not come directly from the Federal Government.

He clarified that the funds allocated to the states were in fact COVID-19 funds from the World Bank, and that the Federal Government simply served as a middleman between them and all 36 states.

Makinde explained that the World Bank’s funding was conditional on the states’ previous expenditures towards COVID-19 initiatives, indicating that it would essentially be refunding what had been utilized by the states to combat the pandemic.

In reference to the purported “hardship fund” allocated by the Federal Government for citizens, I addressed a query from a worried Oyo State resident, as stated by the governor of Oyo.

I hereby declare unequivocally that this is yet another example of distorting the truth. The stated funds were a component of the World Bank-supported NG-CARES project, which is an intervention program aimed at delivering results.

An intervention to aid Nigerian states in their COVID-19 Recovery was enabled by The World Bank. This endeavor is referred to as CARES, which stands for COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus.

Remember that Tinubu had stated in a nationwide address regarding the #EndBadGovernance protests, which were held to protest against hunger and hardship among Nigerians, that his administration distributed N570 billion across all 36 states.

According to Tinubu, over N570 billion has been disbursed across all 36 states for the purpose of enhancing support for citizens’ livelihoods. Furthermore, 600,000 nano-grants have been allocated to benefit various nano-businesses.

An extra 400,000 nano-businesses are anticipated to reap the benefits, as per the President’s statement.