Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo has clarified that the N570 billion released to the 36 states was not a direct handout from President Bola Tinubu’s administration, but rather part of a World Bank-assisted initiative.

This fund was intended to expand livelihood support across the country, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a nationwide broadcast on Sunday, amid ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests, President Tinubu mentioned that his government had released over N570 billion to states.

“Also, more than N570 billion 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 nano-businesses are expected to benefit,” he said, addressing the growing unrest related to hunger and corruption.

Governor Makinde responded on Thursday, explaining that the funds were part of the World Bank’s NG-CARES project, a recovery programme designed to assist states in overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic.

“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,” Makinde said.

He further noted that the programme required states to use their own funds initially, with reimbursement from the World Bank following verification.

“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 pointed out.

Makinde also highlighted that the funds were not grants but loans that each state is obligated to repay.

He noted that Oyo’s participation in the programme predates the current administration, saying, “So, in direct response to the message, the federal government did not give Oyo state any money. We were reimbursed funds (N5.98 billion in the first instance and N822 million in the second instance) we invested in the three result areas of NG-CARES, which includes inputs distribution to smallholder farmers within our State.”

The Governor added that Oyo’s model for distributing inputs to farmers was later adopted as the standard for the entire NG-CARES programme.

“In fact, when the World Bank saw our model for the distribution of inputs preceded by biometric capturing of beneficiary farmers, they adopted it as the NG-CARES model,” he stated.