FIJ
Before the exit of former President Muhammadu Buhari from office on May 29, he signed into law the 2023 budget tagged the ‘Budget of Fiscal Sustainability and Transition’ on January 3, 2023.
Some highlights of the budget made provisions for debt servicing, defense and internal security, health sector and education, among others.
In the budget, a total of ₦355,093,601,378 was allocated to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. Out of this sum, about ₦1 billion was appropriated for the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).
This budgetary allocation is yet to have an impact on the children, as six months after, primary school students nationwide are yet to taste even a drop of cooking oil. The implication of this is telling on the welfare and educational needs of the growing number of out-of-school children.
FIJ placed calls to the three numbers – 08024175445, 08028216336, 080131638164 – of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to find out why the programme had failed to deliver meals to beneficiaries of the programme, but none was reachable at press time.
