As part of efforts to militate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Kogi, Governor Yahaya Bello has declared that the sum of N3 billion has been set aside in the 2021 budget to improve the living condition of the poor and the vulnerable in the state.
Declaring the training and sensitisation on Kogi COVID-19 Action Recovery Stimulus (CARES) programme open, Thursday, in Lokoja , the governor stated that the state has no evidence of COVID-19 but that the pandemic has induced effects which have reduced revenues and escalated inflation, putting needless pressures on the people of the state.
The governor who was represented at the occasion by the Secretary to the State Government Folashade Arike stated that Kogi State has no evidence of COVID-19, but the pandemic has induced effects which have reduced revenues and escalated inflation, putting needless pressures on the people of the state.
He assured that the three billion naira which will be cash-back and disbursed will complement the N-cares of the federal government to provide quality health, education, agriculture, poverty eradication and provision of water to enhance the living standard of the masses.
The governor added that small and medium business enterprises will be assisted to enable them grow and add value to the state’s economy.
He charged the Kogi state Community and Social Development Agency, the implementing agency to ensure that the programme benefit the state, assuring the removal all bureaucratic bottle-necks that could hinder the implementation of the programme.
The NG-CARES focal person and state Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Asiwaju Ashiru Idris, noted that the essence of KG-CARES was to mitigate the effects of the harsh economic environment caused by COVID-19.
“With all the issues surrounding the pandemic , there is no doubt that, our people who were poor in 2019 have been made poorer in 2020 and, even a significant proportion that were not previously poor are now either poor or vulnerable,” he said.
Earlier, the General Manager of Kogi State Community and Social Development Agency, organiser of the training and implementer of the Kogi-CARES programme, Momoh Dauda assured that the agency would not disappoint the government, saying it was battle ready to implement the programme.
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