Ismail Adebayo,Birnin Kebbi
Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu has pledged that the state government will provide additional resources to the NG-CARES programme, as soon as they are requested by the Delivery Platforms.
Bagudu spoke on Thursday, in Birnin Kebbi at the launch of the programme and promised that the state government would render all the necessary assistance to ensure its success in the state.
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Babale Umar Yauri, Bagudu said: ’’The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy of the country and Kebbi need not be overemphasized. We saw global economies enter recessions and all over the world, recovery is just beginning.
‘’This makes the CARES program not only timely but essential. The CARES program is a loan to the State government approved by the House of Assembly as part of our 2022 spending plans.
‘’It has been carefully designed to ensure maximum impact across the areas of intervention. We remain resolute and committed to livelihood support, SME support, and maintaining food security.’’
He commended the efforts of the World Bank and Federal Cares Technical Team for taking time to be here despite their several engagements and busy schedules.
He said,’’ Two weeks ago, we received here from the Kebbi World Bank team for the Hybrid Implementation Support Mission, to enhance the capacity and further widen the institutional arrangement of the NG-CARES.
‘’Kebbi State successfully hosted the North-Western states comprising Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina.
‘’I had the privilege of also receiving the Task Team Leader Prof. Okunmadewa at the Kebbi State Governor’s lodge to discuss further the modalities under which the CARES program would operate.
‘’During that meeting, I committed to the TTL that the State Government would inject additional resources of up to 5 billion Naira to ensure the success of the CARES program.
‘’By design, the CARES programme is expected to run over a period of 2 years. We have a target of 28,291 across the 9 Disbursement Link Indicators ( DLIs) .
‘’Not surprisingly, the bulk of our CARES interventions will go towards the Agricultural intervention component to bolster food security and provide much-needed help to smallholder farmers.
‘’I would like to thank the World Bank and Federal teams once again for taking the time to grace this occasion with their presence.
‘’I would also like to commend the CARES team from Kebbi for also working very hard to bring us to the point where the CARES program is being launched.’’
Prof. Foluso Okunmadewa, the Task Team Leader of the programme, commended Kebbi state for taking the lead position in Nigeria. ‘’ This is why we want other states to emulate Kebbi and the Governor must be lauded.
‘’This is why we are very happy with the Governor, as he strives to take more people of the state out of poverty.’’ He said that the World Bank appreciates the efforts of the state government,' saying,'' this is a position we want to recognize and support.''
"Gov. Bagudu has also made a pledge to lead in the efforts to spearhead the programme and take the citizens out of poverty. He vowed that the World Bank would give priority attention to Kebbi State, as "Bagudu cares.''
Mr. Aso Valkporaye, Chairman of, the Federal Cares Technical Committee, promised that the programme would touch every family in the benefiting states.
He described Kebbi as doing well owing to the purposeful leadership of Governor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu as well as his care for the Kebbi people and his pledge to inject 5 billion naira into the program.
The Kebbi State Coordinator of the Program, Hajiya Rukayya Muhammad Bawa while giving an overview of the program, explained that the program was a two-year emergency World Bank Program worth 750 million dollars with each State getting 20 million dollars.
She said the program was designed to support the budgeted Program of expenditures and interventions at the state level, targeting existing and newly emerging vulnerable and poor households, agriculture value chains, and micro and small enterprises ( SMEs) affected by economic crises.
No comments:
Post a Comment