Presidency, Falana disagree on N135b Post Covid 19 funds shared to states

By Samuel Ogunsona

The Presidency and radical lawyer, Mr Femi Falana have locked horns over the N135b fund disbursed to 36 states by the Nigerian Federal Government.

In a viral video,Falana said the Federal Government disbursed N135b to the 35 states as part of COVID 19 funds. He queried the judicious use of the funds by states in the midst of widespread corruption and poverty across the country.

Irohinoodua was reliably informed that last year after the February Presidential election, Mr Falana had been approached by President Bola Tinubu to be the country’ Attorney General, a request the radical lawyer declined.

In a statement made available to Irohinoodua, the Senior Special Assistant, SSA (Media and Publicity) to the President, Tope Ajayi said Falana misrepresented the issue in his presentation.

He said what the lawyer rendered in the trending video was to misrepresentation of facts.

He said Falana did not tell his audience the real reason the said amount was released to the States under the World Bank-funded NG-CARES Programme.

He said contrary to the impression of wasteful and frivolous spending being conveyed to the public it is the Lagos lawyer who needs to get himself acquainted with the issue in contention.

He said the funds were released to deal with the post COVID-19 economic tremor.

Ajayi said the whole global economy is still reeling from the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic with the attendant disruptions to the global supply chain, which the world is yet to fully recover from.

Strengthening his position on Wednesday, Falana said the Presidency cannot deny the fact that N135 billion was disbursed for Covid-19 pandemic

He said he did not resort to exaggeration in his statement?

He said the loan taken by Nigeria from the World Bank to combat the covid-19 pandemic was $750 million.

“Contrary to your information, the sum of $350 million has not been disbursed. I have taken up this matter with the Federal Ministry of Health.”

But Ajayi said Covid-19 exacerbated poverty around the world, especially as a result of loss of livelihoods in rural communities and among the urban poor and that post-Covid-19, the World Health Organisation and World Bank are still supporting countries to strengthen their health systems and emergency preparedness so nations can be in much better position to deal with other public health emergencies that may occur in future.

Ajayi said just last year, there was an outbreak of Diphtheria, monkeypox, and Lassa Fever in more than 20 states in Nigeria that government effectively contained.

He said “In a bid to further manage the aftermath of Covid-19 in line with the framework of the WHO and the World Bank, the Federal Government, in December 2023, disbursed N135.4billion to the states following Independent Assessment of results achieved under the Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus Programme. The money, which Mr. Falana attempted to scandalise in the viral video, was released to address social and economic crisis created by Covid-19” adding that it is not peculiar to Nigeria.

“Every country in the world today is still dealing with many socio-economic problems caused by Covid-19.The aim of the NG-CARES Programme backed by World Bank, which is being implemented in all the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory, is to mitigate the economic and social shocks faced by vulnerable people, who are yet to get their livelihoods back as a result of the lockdown occasioned by the pandemic.”

He said the project is structured as one that delivers results adding that only states that have implemented according to laid-down procedures prescribed in the Financing Agreement, the Funds Release Policy, and the Independent Verification Agent Protocol get reimbursement for the money already spent.

He said the money Mr. Falana mentioned was disbursed based on the results achieved by the States and FCT in their efforts at supporting poor and vulnerable Nigerians under the NG-CARES Programme.

He siad the “top three best performing states in the Second Round of Assessment are Nasarawa, which got N13,697,828,496.96, Cross River N10,944,747,818.84 and Zamfara N10,231,055,267.82,” according to NG-CARES National Coordinator, Abdulkarim Obaje.

But Falana said another sum of $3.4 billion loan was procured by Nigeria to meet the urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic and decline in oil prices.

He said the bank relevant statements were not produced while the Auditor-General of the Federation has requested the Ex-Governor of the CBN to account for the balance of US$2.7 billion, N350 billon credited to Exchange Commission and recover the sum of N13.3 billion credited to Forex Equalisation Account.

Falana said the loan taken by Nigeria from the World Bank to combat the covid-19 pandemic was $750 million.

“Contrary to your information, the sum of $350 million has not been disbursed. I have taken up this matter with the Federal Ministry of Health.”

Falana said another sum of $3.4 billion loan was procured by Nigeria to meet the urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic and decline in oil prices.

He said the bank relevant statements were not produced and that the Auditor-General of the Federation has requested the Ex-Governor of the CBN to account for the balance of US$2.7 billion, N350 billion credited to Exchange Commission and recover the sum of N13.3 billion credited to Forex Equalisation Account.