Mr Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, human rights crusader and the Chair, of Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), has challenged states and the Federal Capital Territory to explain how they spent N573 billion they received for the past nine months to fight poverty.
The total sum of N573 billion, according to the lawyer, has been disbursed to the states and FCT to fight multidimensional poverty in the past nine months. The disbursement was confirmed on Sunday, 4 August by President Bola Tinubu in his nationwide broadcast. Falana argued further: “Since the sum of N438 billion has just been disbursed, Nigerians deserve to know the details of the anti-poverty programs being executed with the fund. After all, the last tranche of N438 billion is part of the World Bank loan of $750 million which will be paid back by the Nigerian people.”
In his statement, entitled, Questions Arising from N573 Disbursed to States And FCT to Fight Poverty in the Past 9 Months, Falana narrated the origin of the funds.
“Following the losses suffered by businesses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria, as he put it, took a loan of $750 million to fund the NG-CARES Program. The program is a state-driven initiative specifically designed for the elevation of businesses affected by COVID-19.
To facilitate the smooth take-off of the programme, the Federal Government disbursed a one-off recoverable advance of N35.3 billion to all 36 States and the FCT in March 2022.
In April 2023, the federal government disbursed N77 billion to states and the FCT to fund the NG-CARES programme and contribute to tackling multi-dimensional poverty in the country.
