The Jigawa State Government yesterday announced plans to commence the disbursement of N1.7 billion to rural dwellers in the form of free grants to the poor and to the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs).
The Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Alhaji Ibrahim Umar, stated this to reporters in Dutse.
The disbursement is under the NG-COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Programme.
The commissioner said the programme was designed as a performance for result by the World Bank which initiated it to assist poor Nigerians affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the World Bank had already disbursed N700 million for smooth take-off of the programme in Jigawa.
“This is in consideration of the tight situation being experienced across the state.
“Due to the Jigawa State’s commitments, N1,000,000,000 from the state treasury was released to complement the advance payment to achieve the six-month target as approved by Governor Muhammad Badaru,” the commissioner said.
Umar said the programme was designed as a performance for the result which will provide grants to fund numerous projects and programmes in line with the principles of the Community-driven Development Approach.
According to him, the existing platforms such as the FADAMA Development Office and State Cash Transfer Unit Directorate of Economics Empowerment will be used to deliver the programme.
The commissioner said the Jigawa State NG-CARES is implementing six disbursement link indicators from three result areas which were chosen by the state government during the programme appraisal.
He said the result of area 1 which centred on social safety nets and basic service delivery was to scale up existing safety net interventions at the state level to expand the coverage of social transfers and livelihood.
Umar said the result area 2 would centre on food security and safe food delivery, adding that it was expected to scale up interventions that help farmers increase food production and facilitate smooth functioning of the supply chain.
“The intervention in this area includes provision of seeds, fertilisers, agricultural extension services to farmers and opportunities to improve agricultural infrastructure,” the commissioner said.