Oyo state government denies receiving N570bn Hardship grant from FG

The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde has denied taking part in the N570bn hardship grant claimed to have been given to the state governments by the Federal Government.

On Sunday, August 8, President Bola Tinubu in a nationwide broadcast during the #EndBadGovernance protests against hunger and hardship, disclosed that the Federal government had disbursed N570bn to the 36 states. The President said Nigeria spends N2tn monthly to import Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, and Automotive Gas Oil, otherwise known as diesel.

He disclosed that N9.1tn was accumulated as total fiscal revenue to the Federal Government’s coffers during the first half of 2024, marking a significant increase from what was earned by the previous administration.

“Also, more than N570bn has been released to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens, while 600,000 nano-businesses have benefitted from our nano-grants. An additional 400,000 more nan0-businesses are expected to benefit,” the President said

However, in a newsletter No 95 |August 2024 personally signed by the governor and shared on his X handle on Thursday, said the state was not in the know of such a grant.

“Before I speak more on further actions we have taken to show our commitment to productivity and sustainability, let me respond to a long message I received earlier in the week from a concerned citizen.

The message was about a purported N570 billion Hardship Fund “given” to the 36 States by the Federal Government. I was queried about what I used the money for.

Let me state categorically that this is yet another case of misrepresentation of facts. The said funds were part of the World Bank-assisted NG-CARES project—a Programme for Results intervention.

The World Bank facilitated an intervention to help States in Nigeria with COVID-19 Recovery. CARES means COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus.

It was called Programme for Results because States had to use their money in advance to implement the programme. After the World Bank verified the amount spent by the State, it reimbursed the States through the platform provided at the Federal level.

The Federal Government did not give any State money. They were simply the conduit through which the reimbursements were made to States for money already spent,” Makinde said