By Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Twenty two thousand, four hundred and fifteen individuals and two thousand seven hundred and forty homes are to benefit from the COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus scheme of the federal government in Taraba state.
The state governor Darius Ishaku disclosed this on Saturday at commencement of a three day capacity building workshop for on the implementation of the scheme for staff and other stakeholders in Jalingo.
Governor Ishaku who was represented by the state Commissioner for Budget and Planning and chairman of the state steering committee Mr Solomon Elisha said that the training was necessary to ensure that the stakeholders are well equiped to carry out their task without hitches and more efficiently.
He disclosed that “Taraba State became eligible to participate in the program after the World Bank has reviewed and assessed her eligibility status thus confirming that all the fiduciary and technical requirements for meeting all the conditions for participation have been put in place.
“The intervention in the State has four (4) components referred to as Delivery Platforms (DPs) namely: Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA), FADAMA, Special Grant Transfer (SGT) and Micro and Small Enterprise (MSE).
“I am aware that the implementation of NG-CARES will cost the nation the sum of $750 million and each State will be accessing the sum of $20 million through program for result (PfR) to cushion the effect of the pandemic on her citizenry, I am also aware that the sum of N900 million has been advanced to the State for intervention in three result areas and six (6) disbursement link indicators.
“With this intervention, Taraba citizens numbering 22,415 are expected to benefit directly from the program. This is aside the livelihood grants to 2,740 households targeting the economically active youth and women with the upgrading of 32 wet markets to safer functional ones.
“To fast track the implementation of the program my government approved the flag-off of the 2022 wet season input distribution to farmers i.e. disbursement link indicator 2.1 under FADAMA delivery. platform.
“But having studied all the submissions of the delivery platforms and the interface I had with them individually and collectively I saw that there was a need for further technical support in terms of capacity building for the officers that will be implementing the program. The eventual audience I had with the National Coordinator of NG-CARES has given credence to the need to train the technical staff on the deliverables hence today’s In-house training workshop.
“Even though the program is not taking up at the speed desired by the National Office, there is every need for the implementers to be at the same page. In this light, I wish to state that with this In-house training Taraba CARES today has commenced in earnest. Let every delivery platform begin to set in motion the machinery for implementation so that we will get the optimum result”.
The governor appreciated the World Bank and Federal Government for coming up with this economic stimulus program to assuage the effects of the pandemic on Nigerians generally and Tarabans specifically and assured that the state government would do everything to ensure that the funds are optimally utilized for the good of the right people.
