Gov. Yahaya Bello

After months of denying existence of the Coronavirus disease pandemic in the State, the Kogi State Government has said more than 20,000 of it’s vulnerable households would benefit from an economic stimulus to cushion the effect of the pandemic. To this end, the State Executive Council on Wednesday approved a set aside fund of 1.56 billion naira under the Kogi Care Initiative planned towards the program.

Speaking with newsmen after the SEC meeting, Commissioner for Finance and Budget Planning, Asiwaju Idris Ashiru said the fund would be shared into 520 million naira to cover three major areas.

He highlighted the area to include assistance to the vulnerable covering the elderly, less privilege and the poor, while fund was also set aside for farmers and as well as small business owners in the state.

He noted that these areas have been seriously affected by the socio economic impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic hence the state government made fund available to enable swift recovery from these effects.

The Commissioner noted that the program which is World Bank supported when implemented would reverberate the economy and as well ensure food security.

The Commissioner asserted that in identifying the vulnerable the state government would largely rely on its Social register supported by the recent document made available by the Federal Government. He also affirmed that the Government in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BOI) after its meetings would set up modalities for selecting the beneficiaries under the SMEs result area as the funds would be given out as loans and grants.