Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Non-Government Organisations and the Media in Nigeria have been urged to closely monitor the release and utilisation of 114.28 million U.S dollars World Bank credit and grant given to Nigeria for COVID-19 Preparedness and Strategic Response Programme.
The financing is being done through two sources, being the International Development Agency – World Bank credit to the tone of 100 million U.S dollars; and a World Bank grant financing to the tone of 14.28 million U.S dollars.
Following the schedule of implementation Nigeria is expected to have received 70 million U.S dollars this year, while 42 million dollars will be paid in 2022, and the balance of 2.28 million dollars delivered in 2023.
The Coordinator of Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), Dr. Aminu Magashi who made the call during the COVID-19 working group monthly meeting, further revealed that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is the beneficiary of the grant with about 70 million U.S dollars already available from the World Bank.
“The Funds have been allocated to intervene in emergency COVID-19 response by allotting US$14.28 million for Federal Support and Procurement for COVID-19 Preparedness and Response; and US$90.00 million for direct Support to States for COVID-19 Emergency Preparedness and Response, while US$10.00 million was dedicated to the Management, Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation.
“The US$10.00 million includes US$5.00 million for Project Management and Coordination and US$5.00 million for Monitoring and Evaluation.
“Although the NCDC is the beneficiary of this funding from the World Bank, from what we understand about budget implementation in Nigeria, the State Government will receive the money directly from the office of the AG of course in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, NCDC and also Ministry of Finance.
“Because the aim of transfer of the funding directly from the Central Bank of Nigeria Single Treasure Account is to also promote transparency and prudence of utilization but of course the NCDC will be fully involved in whatever disbursement that is going to happen.”
Magashi advocates that the money should be tracked to the office of the Minister of Finance, Accountant General of the Federation, Minister of Health and the Director General of the NCDC.
“Some of the information already available to us is the fact that the Nigerian Government through the minister of Finance and the World Bank Country Office have signed the agreement for emergency response for the COVID-19 and 114.28 US dollars is already earmarked.
“90 million dollars of this money is supposed to be distributed to all 36 states and the FCT to help them response to emergency problems regarding to COVID-19, while the remaining money will stay at the Federal level to help the NCDC respond to COVID-19 emergencies and also preparedness in addressing health security and outbreaks of diseases.
“So, 70 million is supposed to be right now available for Nigeria to utilize, it has to come through the office of the Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation; to be disbursed to all the respective agencies and also the state government. So we have to inform the people about the money, also we need to raise awareness and track these resources to ensure prudent spending and utilisation of these resources.”
The project intervention is mostly at the state and local government level with the intention to tackle the challenges posed by COVID-19 in Nigeria, beginning in 2020 to end 2023.
