'NG - CARES programme will lift cushion impact of Covid19, lift Kogi citizens out of poverty'

The new COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme will mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the poor and vulnerable members of the society within the state.

Stakeholders responsible for its implementation gave the assurance on Tuesday in at a sensitization meeting for that purpose held in Lokoja.

The programme which has already commenced will be implemented through targeted interventions on Social Transfer, Labour Intensive Public Works, Water, Health, Education, Sanitation, Nutrition, Food Security, Micro and Small Enterprises.

Chairman of the state steering committee for the programme in Kogi State, Hon Hon Asiwaju Asiru Idris stated in his opening remarks that the impact of Covid19 pandemic was being felt by the people of the state despite Kogi not recording any victim.

He disclosed that over 1.3 million vulnerable people has been earmarked to benefit from the programme within the period of its implementation.

According to him, the programme could only succeed if all the relevant stakeholders play their part by being proactive in delivering the programme for the benefits of the people.

He noted that beneficiaries which would compromise people from the grassroots across the state have been captured to benefit from the programme to reduce the high rate of poverty caused by the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic that resulted in total lockdown of business activities in the state and the country at large.

In his submissions; “A lot of work has been done in preparing the NG-CARES and we are gradually moving towards programme effectiveness or implementation and that is why we have called this sensitization meeting to once again share with you the focus of the programme , how it will be implemented and what roles are expected of you as stakeholders to effectively deliver the programme in the state .

“I am appealing to Chairmen of local government areas in the state to be proactive by ensuring that the right people who suppose to enjoy the programme are captured in the data base” he said.

Speaking, the General Manager of the State Community and Social Development Agency, CSDA, Chief Dauda Momoh who expressed readiness of his agency to implementing the area they are to cover, assured of the commitment of his staff to achieve the target.

He noted that state has sunk over N 1 billion on the agency since inception and have gotten value for money with the state narrowly coming second behind Cross River in implementation of micro projects in the State.

In a paper presented at the occasion by Thomas Arokoyo titled “Covid-19 and its impact on the economy of Nigeria” Arokoyo said that despite the fact that Nigeria has avoided a public health crises during the pandemic, the economic impacts of Covid-19 pandemic was notice on livelihoods, food insecurity and sharp drop in government revenue generation.

He noted that Nigeria’s food inflation jumped to 22.95 per cent , the rate he said was the highest in over 12 years, stressing that Kogi , Sokoto and Ebonyi States are worst hit by food inflation.

Arokoyo noted that the programme was introduced to support government interventions that allow groups of small -scale farmers to access various inputs and services for crop and livestock production including improve seeds and fertilizer to boost food production.