2 months ago
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The Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus has stated that over nine million Nigerians have benefitted from the initiative.
The National Coordinator of NG-CARES, Dr Abdulkarim Obaje, stated this during the fifth Zonal Peer Learning and Experience Sharing Event of the programme on Thursday in Akure, Ondo State capital.
Obaje expressed hope that the initiative was poised to eradicate poverty and bring positive transformation among Nigerians.
“The number of beneficiaries of the intervention is well over 9 million beneficiaries.
“NG-CARES is poised to assist the state and federal governments to eradicate poverty in Nigeria.
“So, the programme has been restructured in terms of scope to cover more vulnerable Nigerians. And it has done very, very well.
“The indication of how well it has done is the fact that state governors are requesting the World Bank, through the federal government, to give additional financing, which has also been approved to the tune of $500 million,” he said.
He also stated that the initiative would be moving from state to state on a zonal basis to interact with beneficiaries.
“Many of the beneficiaries are giving us testimonies of how the NG-CARES programme has impacted them.
“So the purpose of this learning event, as has been repeatedly stated, is to share learning experience,” he stated.
He commended state governments in the country for spending over N150 billion in the programme.
“We have far exceeded our target; not just this, we have far exceeded all the targets that were set for us at the beginning. Why? Because state governments themselves are investing their own resources in this.
“It shows acceptability; it shows that they believe in this structure that we have put in place.
“What we need now is more funding from the federal government, more funding from the state government, so that the poor in Nigeria can breathe,” he said.
The Task Team Leader of NG-Cares, World Bank, Dr Lire Ersado, said that the World Bank had expended $750 million in the programme.
Ersado, who was represented by Prof. Foluso Okunmadewa, the former Task Team Lead, World Bank, explained that the project had impacted the lives of many Nigerians.
He stated that the first phase of the programme would end in December with direct and indirect beneficiaries amounting to 30 million.
According to him, it has helped a lot of farmers to increase their productivity in the country.
Ersado announced that the second phase would receive $500 million from the World Bank.
He said that the programme was structured in a way that could not be hijacked by politicians.
On his part, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Emmanuel Igbasan, said that the NG-CARES performed exceptionally well among other World Bank-supported interventions in the
country.
Igbasan, who was represented by Mr Bamidele Daisi, the state NG-CARES coordination head, said that despite the success, there was still the need for stakeholders to further move the programme to an enviable height.
He added that the Federal Government and the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) must continue to synergise on how to further deepen the collaboration with the World Bank for the sustainability of the NG-CARES.
(NAN)
