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The federal government has proposed to spend N100bn on the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Daily Trust reports.
Analysis of the 2025 budget showed the programme is under the Service Wide Vote (SVW) and domiciled in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
It would be recalled that the feeding programme was suspended on January 12, after the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NSIPA Halima Shehu, was suspended over alleged financial malfeasance.
However, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, had in August disclosed plans to relaunch the programme.
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Edun, who assured that the government would provide sufficient resources to support and sustain educational programmes nationwide, reaffirmed the government’s dedication to enhancing education through a series of initiatives to grant access to quality education.
Edun said, “Feeding children at school would not only improve their health and wellbeing but also incentivise them to remain in school, thereby reducing the number of out-of-school children.”
…To settle MDAs electricity debt with N15bn
The total expenditure for the SWV was increased to N6.7tr from the 4.4tr it received in 2024 among which is the settlement of MDAs electricity bills with N15bn.
Daily Trust reports that the Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDC) had claimed that ministries, departments, and agencies including the military owe it N42bn.
This amount is different from that of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) that earlier in the year threatened to disconnect electricity in the Presidential Villa and 86 federal government’s ministries departments and agencies over N47.1bn outstanding debts as of December 2023.
The SWV also had a N2.3bn provision for entitlements of former presidents/heads of state and vice presidents/chiefs of general staff.
While there is another allocation of N1bn for severance benefits to retired heads of government agencies and parastatals.
Similarly, there is an allocation of N5bn for International sporting competitions and N41.2bn for contribution to international organisations.
Editor’s Note: This photo is for illustration
