*More than 1.2 million pupils benefiting, over 14, 000 cooks hired in Nine States
The Federal Government of Nigeria, has disclosed spending a total of N3, 770, 688, 144 for the feeding of 1, 287, 270 school children in nine states under its HomeGrown School Feeding Programme.
Its statistical records showed that the benefiting states comprising Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta and Abia at the last count had received various sums in tranches while 14, 574 cooks were engaged in the communities where the schools are located.
A statement by the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, said the money was paid directly from the federal government’s coffers to the cooks, with a slight variation in Osun State where some of the food items like eggs were bought centrally by an aggregator.
Further, he gave the overall payments to each of the nine states and the breakdown figures of how many children were being fed so far.
In Anambra state, he said a total of N693,013,300, in eight tranches of N53,684,400, N67,462,500, N68,570,600, N70,387,100, N70,950,600, N71,480,500, N145, 238, 800 and N145, 238, 800, respectively, were released while a total of 103, 742 children had been fed so far.
The total release for Enugu state is N419,427,200 in six tranches of N67,244,800, N67,244,800, N69,570,900, N69,570,900, N69,570,700 and N76,225,100 respectively while 108,898 school children had so far been fed.
For Oyo state, a total of N414, 708, 700 had been released for the feeding of 107,983 in six tranches of N72, 288,300, N66, 622, 500, N66,736,600, N66,736,600, N66,736,600 and N 75,588,100 respectively.
In Osun state, N767,483,244 was released in eight tranches of N58,299,130, N62,089,580, N49,671,664, N62,089,580, N62,089,580, N49,217,310, N212,013,200 and N212,013,200 respectively for the feeding of 151,438 pupils.
In the same vein, Ogun state had been paid a total of N880,055,400 in seven tranches comprising N119,648,900, N119,648,900, N119,648,900, N119,648,900, N 119,648,900, N119,648,900 and N162,162,000 respectively while a total of 231,660 school children had been fed.
Also, Ebonyi state received N 344,633,100 in three tranches of N115,218,600, N115,218,600 and N114,195,900 respectively for the feeding of 163,137 school children
For Zamfara, Delta and Abia states, a total of N188,001,100, N63,366,100, N42,921,200, were released and for the feeding of 268,573, 90,523 and 61,316 pupils respectively.
Akande explained that the last three states were the latest to join the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme which is projected to feed over Three million pupils this year.
He said the total number of cooks that had been hired in Anambra, Enugu and Oyo states were 1009, 1, 276, and 1, 372 respectively, while 2, 863, 2, 205 and 1, 453 cooks were hired in Osun, Ogun and Ebonyi states.
In Zamfara state, 2,738 cooks were engaged under the programme while 908 and 750 were hired in Delta and Abia states, respectively.
