The Federal Government said, yesterday, that nine states had been covered in the programme.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President, Mr Laolu Akande, said on Sunday in Abuja the money was spent in Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta and Abia states.
The states received various sums in tranches, while 14,574 cooks have been engaged in the communities where the schools are located.
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, such as eggs, were bought centrally by an aggregator, said Akande.
He added that the federal government intended to feed no fewer than three million pupils in 2017 under the feeding Programme, an aspect of the Social Investment Programme (SIP) of the Buhari presidency.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, gave details of overall payments to each of the nine states and the breakdown figures of how many children are being fed so far are as:
“Anambra state got 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 while a total of 103, 742 children have 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 have so far been fed.
“For Oyo state, a total of N414, 708, 700 have 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 has 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 have been fed.
“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
“Zamfara, Delta and Abia states got a total of N188,001,100, N63,366,100, N42,921,200, and for the feeding of 268,573, 90,523 and 61,316 pupils respectively.
“ The last three states are the latest to join the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme which is projected to feed over Three million pupils this year.
“The total number of cooks that have been hired in Anambra, Enugu and Oyo states are 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.”
The feeding programme caters to pupils from primary 1 to 3.
Aside from encouraging school pupils to embrace education, the programme is in line with the United Nations’ steps to boost nutrition in children.
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