By Newslineglobal
Federal Government saysit has targeted five million people to benefit from its COVID-19 economic recovery program.
Minister of State Finance, Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, disclosed this during a ministerial Town Meeting on Nigeria’s COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme for Stakeholders in Borno and Yobe states.
He said that the government would not relent in delivering services and the dividends of democracy to the people until the last breath of the administration.
Coordinator, NG-CARES Programme, Abdulkarim Obaje, explained that the meeting would be held in nine centres across the country, with the aim of evaluating and reviewing the program for efficiency.
He said: “We are targeting five million beneficiaries, and our expectations are that we should be able to reach more than that. The fact that we are holding this meeting shows that this government has a strong commitment to eradicate poverty. It will be sustained, and the incoming government will be adequately briefed.
This program will continue to be supported by the World Bank. It is in the process of being extended by another 12 months until June 2024. We would not rest on our oars in reaching out to Nigerians. The Buhari-led administration will continue to strive and deliver development to Nigerians even if it has only a few second to hand over to the next administration.Our ultimate goal is to ensure that this credit is used efficiently to improve the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable Nigerians following the guideline and procedures.”Chairman of the Federal CARES Technical Committee, Aso Vapkoraye, represented by Atiku Abubakar Musa, assured the people that resources were being channeled appropriately to achieve the objective of reducing poverty in the country.
He noted that the Federal Government, through the program, disbursed a one-off recoverable advance of N35.3 billion to the 36 states and the FCT in March 2022 and, less than one year after, they have produced results valued at N77.2 billion, impacting over two million direct beneficiaries