Kwara State Government has received a whopping sum of N100m World Bank grant to strengthen its management of the COVID-19 in the state.

 The Spokesperson of the Covid-19 Technical committee in the state, Rafiu Ajakaye in a statement today said that Kwara State is one of the few states that have met the criteria laid down by NCDC and World Bank which has prompted the disbursement of N100 million to the State.

 He revealed that the fund was channeled through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) after the state had met certain criteria and added that the disbursement of the fund is part of the ongoing World Bank-assisted Regional Disease Surveillance System Enhancement (REDISSE) project, which is coordinated by the NCDC to bridge funding gap at the state levels for the implementation of the COVID-19 response and incidence action plan.

The statement revealed that The COVID-19 Response Fund for the States will cover the priority activities in areas such as Training, Workshops, Meetings, Seminar, Procurement of Goods & Services, Operating costs, Consultancy services/Non-consultancy,  stressing that the funds are meant for activities in the approved Incident Action Plan.

Note that Kwara is one of the first few states to receive the fund after being found satisfactorily fit for the financial support on account of its COVID-19 efforts.  The REDISSE project is to implement critical and time-sensitive priority activities related to the pandemic.