The NG-CARE program was meant to support Micro Small and Medium Scale enterprises fight the pandemic, but now that it is over the World Health Organisation has declared that all cases of COVID-19 have been successfully contained.

The minister made this announcement at the town hall meeting for beneficiaries of the fund from Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States.

Agba said the federal government needs to approve an advance payment for all 36 states of the federation, since many governors will be taking office and it is uncertain how much money they have or whether their predecessors left a budget surplus.

According to him, “The effects of COVID-19 still live with us, and that is where the NG-CARES program is still very apt. So we all recall that the COVID-19 pandemic, which ravaged many economies in the world, had devastating consequences on the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable individuals, formal and informal businesses especially the Micro, Small Enterprises.

So it was very, very important that this livelihood should be kept alive, that people are able to keep their jobs at least if not creating new ones.

“We gave I billion naira to each state during the Covid with the exception of Lagos that got 10, Kano got a little more and the FCT because those are epicenters of the pandemic, we still have to get the $750 million World Bank loan to support the states in three basic areas.

“We had a flooding problem last year and it did affect our food security and the supply chains for food so we have to approach the World Bank and say let’s extend this project for another year to June 2024 and I am glad that the task team leaders communicated back to me that we now have approval for that and the official letter will come to me next week from the World Bank. I have also sought another approval and that has been approved because I realized that the transition is so near.