The federal government says it
spent more than N500 million to feed pupils during the lockdown imposed to curb
the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
Sadiya Umar-Farouq, minister of
humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, disclosed the
sum at the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on
Monday.
According to the minister, the
clarification became necessary to clear the air over speculations regarding how
the federal government disbursed funds for the programme.
At the rate of N4,200 per family,
and with 124,589 households impacted, a sum of N523,273,800 was spent on the
programme.
“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,” she
said.
“The ministry, in obeying the
presidential directive, went into consultations with state governments through
the state governors’ 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.”
According to her, the
implementation was done in line with the March 29 presidential directive, and
each family was assumed to have three children.
Umar-Farouq added that the school
feeding programme was modified, and 124,589 households were impacted, at the
rate of N4,200 per family.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
Other government agencies,
including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC),
non-governmental organisations, among others, according to the minister,
monitored the process.
She said Lagos, Ogun and the
federal capital territory (FCT) were covered in the programme which took place
between May 14 and July 6.
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