The World Bank has awarded the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) $15 million as part of a $750 million federal government grant to assist alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country, particularly among the poor and vulnerable, and to help local economies recover.
The Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola, made the announcement on Wednesday during the inauguration of a Steering Committee to pilot the FCT CARES program.
He stated that the funds would be utilized to help the poor and vulnerable reclaim their livelihoods, ensure food security, and boost the rehabilitation of small and medium-sized companies.
Adesola, who was represented at the event by Bashir Mohammed, Director, FCT Human Resources Management, explained that the arrival of COVID-19 in Nigeria in 2020 had a devastating impact on jobs and livelihoods, and that the virus’s containment measures, which included a lockdown, severely impacted income, as businesses in the FCT were limited and restricted.
The economy has been progressively reopening for several months, according to him, but the recovery from last year’s forced recession and economic issues is still underway.
“The FCTA is especially eager to help enterprises regain market share, income, and confidence by encouraging the pace and development of this recovery.”
The global economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of the global lockdown, as well as the severe impact on livelihood and food security, cannot be understated.
“As a response, the federal government, in partnership with the World Bank and the Nigeria Governors Forum, launched the States/FCT CARES program to mitigate the pandemic’s impact, particularly on Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens.
“CARES is a result-oriented program that will deliver results in the following three key areas: result area one: increased social transfers, basic services, and livelihood support to the poor and vulnerable households, with 42,606 people expected to benefit directly and over 180,000 people expected to benefit indirectly,” he said.
He went on to say that the second result area would be to improve food security and the safe functioning of the food supply chain, and that this would help a total of 12,293 farmers directly and over 100,000 people indirectly.
“In the third result area, which focuses on assisting SMEs’ recovery through grants, a total of 612 businesses will gain directly, while over 10,000 individuals will benefit indirectly.
“The outcomes from the three result areas reinforce each other, improving the well-being of poor and vulnerable households, and employment and livelihood grants can help stimulate demand for farmers’ and food suppliers’ agricultural output, as well as other goods and services offered by SMEs,” he said.
Adesola also stated that the newly formed steering committee will be responsible for providing oversight and policy guidance for the implementation of the program (PforR) in the FCT, as stipulated in the financial agreement and operations manual, as well as liaising with the National Assembly to ensure adequate resource allocation.
He stated that the committee is anticipated to evaluate and approve the FCCU’s work plan and budget, as well as the delivery units/platforms to be funded from the FCT’s NG CARES resources.
That it would also assist the FCCU in guaranteeing the timely flow of monies from the treasury for FCT CARES delivery unit and FCCU activities.
