Published 12th Dec, 2022

By Tarinipre Francis

Oyo State has discontinued payment to beneficiaries of its Oyo Cares grant and loan programme after completing the first payment to beneficiaries in August, leaving many of the small business owners stranded.

The scheme was a provision of grants and loans to aid small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) as part of the World Bank and federal government’s Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG Cares) plan, adopted by the Oyo State government as “Oyo Cares”.

Oyo Cares was implemented by the Oyo State Investment and Public Private Partnership Agency (OYISPA) together with the Bank of Industry (BOI) and targeted at SME owners who were unable to repay loans obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic and those who found it challenging to continue to operate their businesses as a result of the pandemic.

According to Akin Makinde, the project manager for Oyo Cares, beneficiaries were to receive grants of N120,000 and N240,000 for a period of six months to help them manage their business operations. However, beneficiaries claim they haven’t received any more funds since the initial disbursement.

Oluwole Oluseye Adeyola, one of the project’s beneficiaries, told FIJ that “they were supposed to pay us N120,000 and N240,000, respectively, for six months. Unfortunately, after the first month, which was in August, they stopped paying.”

Adeyole reported that he contacted OYISPA when they missed the next payment cycle and they claimed to want to evaluate and monitor beneficiaries’ businesses before disbursing the remaining funds. He said when he called the next time, he discovered that they had blocked his line.

He stated that he later visited their Oyo State office to inquire about the delay in payment, and that a staff member informed him that the agency had no plans to continue payment for the remaining five months, so he should forget the payment.

Another beneficiary, Tunde Tewogbade, noted that he learned about the project manager’s promise to pay them for six months after receiving the first payment in late September. He added that after failing to receive payment subsequently, he reached out to the Oyo State Government Feedback Platform via their social media handle, and they informed him that payments would be made after the businesses of the recipients were verified.

Tewogbade, however, said that since then, no one has come to verify his business, and he has not received any more payments.

Tewogbade and Adeyola are not the only beneficiaries who have made inquiries at the Oyo State Feedback desk. A search query for ‘Oyo NG Cares’ on their social media page yielded inquiries from more beneficiaries.

Thank you for contacting us. Note that verified beneficiaries of the NG-CARES grant will receive payments once due diligence is completed. Please be patient.
— Oyo State Government Feedback (@FeedbackOYSG) October 14, 2022

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, @Slaypappii. @OlorunfemiFolo3, verified beneficiaries of the OYO NG, CARES grant will receive payments once due diligence is completed. 1/2
— Oyo State Government Feedback (@FeedbackOYSG) October 31, 2022

The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted small businesses all across the world. To help enterprises recover from the tragic loss, the World Bank gave credit to the federal government for business owners. The federal government distributed the funds among the 36 states and the federal capital territory.

Oyo State only recently disbursed their allocation in August and announced that the funds would be disbursed to beneficiaries for a six-month period. However, some beneficiaries report that they have yet to receive any more payments since August and September.

Akinwunmi Akanbi, an OYISPA employee, told FIJ that the agency had conducted a review of payment and that “the idea was to have a wider spread so that it would go round to more people”.

He also stated that they contacted a number of media outlets to correct the information that was made available to the public.

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