Federal Government have spent about N523.3 million on. school feeding initiative during total lockdown as part of efforts to contain the spread of Coronavirus pandemic.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Faruoq, made this known during the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja.
The Minister made the clarifications amidst speculation around the home grown school feeding programme. She said the programme was implemented in three states following a March 29th, Presidential order.
She said: “It is critical at this juncture to provide details that will help puncture the tissue of lies being peddled in the public space.
“The provision of ‘Take Home Rations’, under the modified Home Grown School Feeding programme, was not a sole initiative of the MHADMSD.
“The ministry, in obeying the Presidential directive, went into consultations with State Governments through the State Governor’s Forum, following which it was resolved that ‘take-home rations’, remained the most viable option for feeding children during the lockdown.
“So, it was a joint resolution of the ministry and the State Governments to give out take-home rations. “The stakeholders also resolved that we would start with the FCT, Lagos and Ogun states, as pilot cases,’
The Minister also said, that the statistics was generated by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) and Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN)
“According to statistics from the NBS and CBN, a typical household in Nigeria has 5.6 to six members in its household, with three to four dependents.
“So, each household is assumed to have three children. “Based on the original design of the Home Grown School Feeding programme, long before it was domiciled in the ministry, every child on the programme receives a meal a day.
“The meal costs N70 per child. “When you take 20 school days per month, it means a child eats food worth N1,400 per month. “Three children would then eat food worth N4,200 per month and that was how we arrived at the cost of the ‘take-home ration’.
“The agreement was that the Federal Government will provide the funding while the States will implement. “To ensure transparency in the process, we partnered with the World Food Programme (WFP) as technical partners.’’
She however urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and other agencies to intervene and monitor the process.
Modupe Arotolu
