Edo State has not been able to key into Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (Nigeria CARES) since it received over $20million early in the year. The reason is Edo is a State without a cabinet, and without one the State cannot spend one Kobo of the $20million. The consequence of this is that poor and vulnerable families, farmers, as well as micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and the state itself, continue to suffer. Meanwhile the various Ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs required to implement the program are also locked in multiple phases of fermentation.
But what is Nigeria CARES? In 2020, the World Bank proposed to support states in Nigeria with a program for results (PforR) instrument referred to as Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (Nigeria CARES). The Program Development Objective (PDO) of the PforR was to protect livelihoods and food security of poor and vulnerable families and facilitate recovery of local economic activity in all participating states across Nigeria.
NG-CARES programme was simply a short-term response to the economic crisis occasioned by the outbreak of the Corona Virus Pandemic in Nigeria. By December 2020, the World Bank Group approved a $1.5 billion package to help build a resilient recovery post-COVID-19 in Nigeria. The sum was approved for Nigeria CARES and the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Programme for Results (SFTAS) Additional Financing projects and leveraged on existing World Bank operations anchored on community-based approaches and structures in relation to multisector interventions such as the Community and Social Development Agency(CSDA)/Community Development Program (CSDP), State Cash Transfer Units (SCTU), State FADAMA or Agriculture Development Agencies, State Job Creation Unit/ SME Support Units supported by the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP).
States were to set up Level Steering Committee comprising of Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries of the key sectoral Ministries and Heads of Agencies to provide oversight and policy guidance to the program. The Steering Committee was to be led by the
Commissioner responsible for Planning and Budget in the State. In addition, a small unit for
coordinating the state CARES program – State CARES Coordinating Unit (SCCU) –
comprising mainly of 4-5 planning and monitoring officers was to be housed in the State Budget and Planning Unit. The SCCU will be responsible for: (i) serving as the secretariat of State CARES Steering Committee; (ii) undertaking periodic collation of results from delivery units; and (iii) monitoring progress of implementation and disbursements against results. The SCCU will also work closely with and relate directly with the delivery platforms for the three Results Areas, namely, the State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU), The State Public Workfare Unit (PWFU) and the State Community and Social Development Agencies (CSDAs) for Result Area 1; The FADAMA unit of the State Ministry of Agriculture for Result Area 2 and State
owned MSE support agencies working in close partnership with the GEEP platform of the
Bank of Industry for Result Area 3.
Not a few states have since kickstarted their own CARE programs. In March, a PDP state, like Edo, Delta had the State Government keying into the program and inaugurated the 9-member Delta State CARES Steering Committee with the responsibility of providing oversight and policy guidelines for the effective implementation of the programme in the state. The committee to be presided over by the Commissioner for Economic Planning in the state had policy heads of the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that would be implementing the programme in the state as members.
Besides providing guidance and oversight during the duration of the CARES programme, the Committee was charged with meeting frequently to consider issues affecting the programme and take appropriate actions, as well as consider and approve annual work plans. It was also to provide periodic updates to the governor every six months, or as may be required. At the inaugural meeting of the committee, it was announced that Delta COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) was designed to support budgeted government interventions at the state level, which was to focus on targeting existing and emerging vulnerable and poor households, farmers, as well as micro and small enterprises (MSEs ) affected by the pandemic.
It was also explained that the Programme Development Objective (PDO) was to expand access to livelihood support and food security services and give grants to the poor and vulnerable households and enterprises. The programme outlined a two-year financial support to achieve results in three main areas. Result Area 1 was about increasing cash transfers and livelihood support to the poor and vulnerable households by supporting the scaling up of existing safety net interventions at the state level, while the safety net interventions would expand the coverage of social transfers, labour intensive public work opportunities in the social sectors, livelihood grants and social service infrastructure micro projects.
Result Area 2 would be increasing food security and safe functioning of food supply chain for poor households, and support scaling up interventions that would help farmers increase food production and facilitate smooth functioning of the food supply chain, just as the interventions supported by Result Area 2 included provision of seeds, fertilizers and agricultural extension services to farmers, opportunities to improve agricultural infrastructure, provision of agricultural inputs to mitigate food loss and upgrading wet markets to allow safe buying and selling of food produce.The focus of Result Area 3 is on facilitating recovery and enhancing capabilities of medium and small scale enterprises (MSEs). It would support scaling up interventions that help MSEs, through grants to support post COVID-19 loans, grants to support operational costs and enhance ICT capabilities.
The Delta programme commenced in April 2021 and would run for two years, while for effective and efficient delivery, it would leverage on existing platforms in the state, such as the State Fadama Coordination Office, Community Driven Development Social Implementation Unit (CDDSIU)and the Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency (DEMSA), among others, in delivering the mandates for the result areas. Different team leads were expected to develop work plans which their Team Leads would bring to the steering committee for consideration and onward transmission to the State Executive Council for approval. When approved, the Delta CARES Coordinating Unit would be tasked with the responsibility of monitoring and reporting progress to the Steering Committee on the implementation activities of the Delivery Platforms.
Lagos like Delta has also activated its own Lagos CARES in April as the State Government rolled out a Programme to support livelihood for poor and vulnerable households and to expand food security services in the State with the $20million it got from Nigeria CARES. At the launch of the social intervention project that is focused on offering safety net to residents whose means of livelihood had been disrupted by the impacts of COVID-19 and also building resilience of the State, the government said the programme will be implemented for 24 months. It said it is being funded through a facility secured from the World Bank by the Federal Government for Nigeria-CARES project. It said other states also benefited from the stimulus programme.
Lagos planned its CARES to directly support 20,843 households and indirectly support 125,058 individuals within the State encompassing three key result areas, including increasing cash transfers and livelihood support to poor and vulnerable households; increasing food security and safe functioning of food supply chains for poor households, and facilitating the recovery of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSMEs). It is also to strengthen institutional support for coordination and delivery. In addition the programme, designed to be inclusive is packaged to specifically impact women and the youth. Lagos planned its own implementation, to cut across relevant ministries, including Sustainable Development Goals and Investment (SDG&I), Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Finance, Wealth Creation, and Agriculture.
The Lagos CARES Programme during the 24 months tenure, will directly have interventions in 69 markets, while a minimum of 2,512 MSMEs supported. And to effectively implement the programme, the State set up a Lagos CARES Steering Committee (SCSC), co-headed by the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget and Special Adviser on Sustainable Development Goals and Investment. Other members of the steering committee comprised cabinet members and policy heads, who will oversee the programme and provide policy guidance.
Lagos has also inaugurated the State’s CARES Coordinating Unit (SCCU) that will work directly with the delivery platforms of the three result areas for result monitoring and coordination. It believes the project would address loss of jobs and threat to food supply chain occasioned by the spread of the pandemic by leveraging on existing World Bank’s operations anchored on community-based approach and multi-sector interventions.
Lagos State has plans to implement a certain number of Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs) out of 11 across three results areas for impact as part of a programme to benefit 4,652 farmers towards driving up agricultural inputs and services, while 5,460 farmers would be engaged in agricultural assets for production and mitigation of food loss and waste. In addition, there would be provision of well-targeted conditional grants to co-finance loans for eligible 1,132 MSMEs.
There are other states besides Delta and Lagos that have engaged full throttle on their $20million share of the World Bank and the Federal government’s funding of the Nigeria CARE scheme. The question is why is the Edo state government mum over the issue. The answer is perhaps, in the womb of time.#