Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has revealed why his administration rejected N1.1 billion support fund from the World Bank to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview on Tuesday, the governor said that the state government rejected the fund because he does not believe in COVID-19.
He added he rejected to sign the MOU for the fund due to the nature of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the two parties.
Bello said the MOU for the fund is “a one-sided agreement”, adding that the interest of the state was not taken into consideration while drafting the document.
The governor, who described COVID-19 as glorified malaria, noted that no case of the pandemic was recorded in Kogi state. He also dismissed the recorded cases of the virus in the state by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
He, however, admitted that the Federal Government gave the state government N1 billion to tackle the effects of COVID-19 in Kogi. Bello said he collected the fund because the economy of the state was affected by the pandemic. noting that the fund was to assist every state.
