The House committee has demanded for the financial report of the federal CARES Support Unit from 2009 to 2021
The House of Representatives Committee on Community and Social Development/NG-CARES has directed the National Coordinator of the Nigeria Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES), Mr. Abdulkarim Obaje, to submit a comprehensive report detailing financial transactions of the federal CARES support unit from 2009 to 2021.
Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Abubakar Kusada, issued the directive on Tuesday during an interactive session held at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.
The meeting brought together members of the committee and officials of the NG-CARES programme.
During the engagement, lawmakers also called on the NG-CARES team to urgently provide a breakdown of state-by-state reports, highlighting the achievements of state coordinators—particularly in addressing the impact of flooding across the country.
Additionally, the committee held discussions with Mr. Obaje on the importance of validating and managing results with state authorities before releasing public figures on the funds disbursed to each state.
In his presentation, the National Coordinator, Mr. Obaje, praised the committee for its diligent oversight, noting that loan repayments under the programme have been significantly affected by fluctuations in the exchange rate.
He informed the committee that while the loan agreement with the World Bank stands at $70 million, a total of $2.2 billion has already been disbursed across various states.
Responding to questions from lawmakers, Obaje clarified that the NG-CARES Programme—originally known as the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus—was developed as a shock-response mechanism by the Federal Government to mitigate the socio-economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other national emergencies.
“NG-CARES Programme is a World Bank-assisted multi-sectoral intervention specifically designed to provide immediate emergency relief to poor and vulnerable Nigerians, smallholder farmers, and micro and small enterprises (MSEs) that were adversely affected by various shocks, including COVID-19,” he explained.
He added that the initiative is being implemented across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) through the Programme for Results (PforR) lending instrument.
“The Programme Development Objective (PDO) is to expand access to livelihood support and food security services, and grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms,” Obaje stated.
