W’ Bank’s $ 750m will boost FG’S social investment, job creation, says Osinbajo

• Low- income, developing countries to access new $ 50b IMF funding

FEDERAL Government, yesterday, said the World Banksupported $ 750 million COVID- 19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus, also knownasng- CARES, willleverage on existing job creation, wealth creation and poverty reduction programmes at the community level.

It said this would form part of the administration’s plan to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years through initiatives such as: State Cash Transfer Units, Agriculture Development Agencies and Job Creation Unit/ MSE Support Units supported by the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme ( GEEP).

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo made the disclosure in Abuja at launch of the NG- CARES programme implementation.

NG- CARES is a multi- sectoral programme, which, in addition to ongoing implementation of the Economic Sustainability Plan ( ESP), is a furtherance of the Federal Government’s response to socio- economic fallouts of the COVID- 19 pandemic.

Noting that the programme will build on diverse and extensive interventions by the Federal Government, Osinbajo said: “NG- CARES is designed to support vulnerable and poor Nigerians, provide immediate emergency relief to smallholder farmers and SMES that were adversely affected by the COVID- 19 pandemic.”

The vice president further disclosed that the loan would be over a period of two years ( 2021- 2023). He said the intervention allocation to each state is $ 20 million ex- ante, $ 15 million to the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) and $ 15 million for the NG CARES Support Unit.