Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has denied any involvement in the ₦570 billion hardship grant purportedly distributed to state governments by the Federal Government.
In a recent broadcast, President Bola Tinubu stated that the government had allocated ₦570 billion to the 36 states in response to the #EndBadGovernance protests addressing hunger and hardship.
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He also mentioned that Nigeria spends ₦2 trillion monthly on importing Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and Automotive Gas Oil (diesel).
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Additionally, Tinubu revealed that the Federal Government’s total fiscal revenue for the first half of 2024 reached ₦9.1 trillion, a notable increase compared to the earnings of the previous administration.
“Also, more than ₦570bn 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 nan0-businesses are expected to benefit,” the President stated.
However, in a newsletter dated August 2024, personally signed by the governor and shared on his X handle on Thursday, he stated that the state was unaware of any such grant.
He said, “In my newsletter tonight, I responded to a question from a concerned citizen of Oyo State regarding the claim that the Federal Government ‘gave’ States over N570 billion as some kind of ‘hardship fund’ for citizens.
“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. 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.”
