A foremost anti-corruption organization in Nigeria, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) has petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) against state governments and the Federal Capital Territory for allegedly converting the NG-CARES Program to state program, and corruptly reducing the amount received as well the beneficiaries.

In a two-page petition document signed by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, titled “Complaint Against State Governments And The Federal Capital Territory On Allegation Of Converting The NG-CARES Program To A State Program And Then Corruptly Reducing The Amount Received And Beneficiaries” the civil society group said a senator representing Ondo central at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Ayo Akinyelure made some weighty allegations against state governments in Nigeria as regard the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES).

In an online video, Senator Akinyelure had said the NG-CARES program by the Federal Government undertaken through the Bank of Industry (BOI) was targeted to benefit about 3,000 small scale business owners per state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with each business owners receiving N3,200,000 grants in support of their respective businesses.

The petition reads in part: “The lawmaker further revealed that after the Federal Government disbursed the money through the various State governments converted the program to State programs, specifically cited Ondo State who converted the program to Ondo-CARES and Oyo State converted it to Oyo-CARES.

“Senator Ayo Akinyelure further alleged that the numbers of beneficiaries were reduced by the State Governments from over 3,000 to just 100 while the amount received by each beneficiary was also reduced. In Ondo State, the amount was reduced to N300,000 while in Oyo State, the amount was reduced to N250,000. He specifically mentioned that he does not know about other states in the federation.

Meanwhile, the mentioned grant which is the subject of corruption is a program initiated by the Federal Government to help sinking small businesses to recover from the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and in effect bring economic prosperity to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its citizens.

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