Over 2m poor Nigerians benefitted from NG-CARES, FG says

The Federal Government yesterday said the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG CARES) Programme had impacted over two million poor and vulnerable beneficiaries in the 36 states and the FCT.

The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, said this was based on the report of the first round of assessment of the programme implementation conducted by an Independent Verification Agent.

Agba, who chairs the Federal CARES Steering Committee (FCSC), spoke in Abuja at the maiden ministerial town hall meeting on NG-CARES.

“The Federal Government once again wishes to restate its commitment to restoring the livelihoods of poor and vulnerable Nigerians, maintaining food security and facilitating the recovery of MSES.

“The NG-CARES Programme is one of the policy options explored by our administration to achieve these objectives. In about a year of full implementation, NGCARES, I am pleased to note, has impacted over 2 million direct beneficiaries,” he said.

Chairman, Federal CARES Technical Committee, Aso Vakporaye, said the town hall was organised to provide the government the opportunity to interact with implementing agencies and beneficiaries of the programme.

“NG-CARES, under the overarching framework of the social protection agenda of this present administration, is caring for the poor and vulnerable Nigerians and very soon, with improved commitment, the ability of Nigerian government, especially at the subnational level, to cope with the crisis, will sufficiently be enhanced,” he said.