World Bank Task Team Leader of the NG-CARES Program, Mr. Lire Ersado has commended the governments of Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, and Rivers for being partners with the World Bank in supporting the poor and the needy.
Mr Ersado made the commendation in Asaba at a joint review meeting of the South South Independent Verification Agents Performance under NG-CARES 1.0
He hinted that while the World Bank provided a $700 million loan, states had jointly contributed $2.2 billion to sustain the programme.
The World Bank representative said the essence of the South South Independent Verification Agents Performance joint review meeting, was to make sure that they were working with the right stakeholders as efforts intensify for the launch of NG-CARES 2.0.
At the event, Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori said the NG- CARES initiative had since demonstrated its effectiveness as a robust platform for addressing broader economic shocks and, and that it had continued to impact on thousands of people in the state.
Governor Oborevwori represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kingsley Emu said the Delta Cares program had recorded 306,177 direct beneficiaries and over 1,200,000 indirect beneficiaries thus far , stressing that government was looking forward to increasing the numbers and strengthening the intervention horizontally and vertically in the transition to the next phase of NG-CARES 2.0.
While highlighting the importance of the the South South Independent Verification Agents Performance joint review meeting, the Delta State Governor said the outcome was critical, as it would guide the World Bank and the Federal Government in their decision on reengaging the Independent Verification Agents for the additional financing phase of the NG-CARES Programme.
The National Coordinator, NG-CARES Programme, Dr. Abdulkarim Obaje represented by an official, Alhaji Afiku Abubakar Musa, said the NG-CARES Program had been a critical instrument in providing reliefs to the poor and vulnerable Nigerians in stimulating local economy.
According to him, ann important aspect of ensuring accountability, transparency and credibility in the implementation of the NG- CARES program is the quality of the assessment of the Independent Verification Agencies, under the program for results financing model.
In a remark, Chairman, Federal Technical Care Unit, Hawal Mohammed represented by Babati Jani of the unit, appreciated the efforts of the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning , Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu for his steadfast leadership and innovative commitment for the successful implementation of the NG- CARES program 1.0.
He said the credibility of any result based program such as NG- CARES depends heavily on the robustness, independence and integrity of its verification process.
”The independent verification agents serve as the backbone of our accountability framework in ensuring that disbursements are directly linked to results achieved at the state level”, Mohammed stated
The State Coordinator, Delta CARES, Dr Patience Ogbewe expressed optimism that the outcome of the South South joint review meeting would create a veritable roadmap towards the engagement independent verification agents under the 2.0 dispensation
Highlight of the event included goodwill messages from representative of Cross Rivers State Government, as well as testimonies of impact of Delta CARES by some beneficiaries .
NG- CARES which stands for Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus was initially conceived as an emergency intervention to support state governments in addressing the socio-economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sam Erhunmwunsee, Radio Nigeria Asaba
