The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, has said on Monday that the school feeding programme will be implemented despite the closure of schools Nationwide.

Schools across Nigeria have been closed for about one week to check the spread of COVID-19.

She said talks with state governors to ensure the continuation of the programme as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari has commenced.

She said this while responding to questions at the joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force in Abuja on Monday.

Mr Buhari had, on Sunday, directed the ministry to develop a strategy on how to sustain the school feeding programme.

“Furthermore, although schools are closed, I have instructed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to work with State Governments in developing a strategy on how to sustain the school feeding program during this period without compromising our social distancing policies,” Mr Buhari had said.

Some Nigerians had wondered how this could be implemented with the pupils currently at home after schools had been locked down.

The minister did not provide any clarification to that ambiguity. She, however, provided more information on related matters.

Implementation

Ms Farouq said the ministry is considering modalities to see how it will extend the president’s directive beyond the states where the lockdown has affected.

“In paragraph 50 of Mr President’s speech, he directed that our ministry works with the relevant state governments in developing a strategy on how to sustain the school feeding programme.

“We will be doing this and I have already started contacting the governors on agreeing on the modalities to adopt.

“I have accordingly contacted the programme heads of the programme. This particular task may have to go beyond the affected states because as we are aware, all schools are closed down and children are at home.

“So, we are looking at modalities to see how we will extend this directive beyond the states where the lockdown has affected,” she said.

The school feeding programme was introduced in 2016 as part of the N500 billion funded Social Investment Programme of the Buhari administration. It was projected to provide 1.14 million jobs across the country, including community women, who would be engaged as cooks.

The programme, with the support of state governments, aims to support states to collectively feed over 24 million school children, which will make it the largest school feeding programme of its kind in Africa.

The goals include tackling poverty and improving the health and education of children and other vulnerable groups.

According to a 2019 government document titled “Investing in Our People,” the programme was feeding over nine million pupils in 52,604 schools across 30 states and empowering 101,913 cooks with bank accounts.

Relief materials

Ms Farouq also said trucks conveying relief materials have been deployed and are expected to arrive at the affected states before the end of Monday.

This is following the presidential directive to ease the sufferings of the vulnerable that might be affected by the lockdown following the outbreak of COVID-19.

“For residents of satellite and commuter towns and communities around Lagos and Abuja whose livelihoods will surely be affected by some of these restrictive measures, we shall deploy relief materials to ease their pains in the coming weeks,” Mr Buhari had said.

Sharing mode

On how the relief materials would be distributed, Ms Farouq said “To achieve this, we must identify and reach the targets in such communities and residents using available data at our disposal.

“This we have started doing, NEMA has deployed all the trucks, they are on-site and before the end of today (Monday), these trucks carrying relief materials will be deployed to these affected states of Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja,” she said.

She said the three months moratorium for all Tradermoni, Marketmoni, and Farmermoni as directed by Mr Buhari, would be immediately implemented.

“We have already carried out the directive and we have contacted the officials handling the programme and we have directed that they implement this immediately.

“In paragraph 54 of Mr President’s speech, he directed that the conditional cash transfers be given in advance of two months. This, we have also called the programme heads and we have directed that we start immediate payment of the cash transfer to the poorest and vulnerable households in our country,” she said

Source:

The Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Famfa Oil Limited, Modupe and Folorunsho Alakija have donated N1billion to support the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria.

According to them, the donation symbolises their resilience, character and strength as they plan to work with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

In a statement issued on Sunday, the business philanthropists also announced the donation of N250million Lagos State Government and the NCDC respectively.

“As the world rallies to deal with the health, security, economic and social implications of the coronavirus, it’s clear that we will feel the effects much more deeply than many of the developed world. Managing a crisis of this magnitude means that the strength of our response will determine our ability to weather the storm.

Individually and collectively, we are rising to this unprecedented challenge in a way that symbolizes our resilience, our character, and strength,” the statement partly read.

Similarly, the medical workers on the frontline in Lagos and Abuja will each get N100million while another N100m will be for the supply of medical equipment to relevant organisations.

Also, the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh foundation (DRASA), and the Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons were supported each with N50million.

Alakija believes that the listed organisations will decide on where to deploy their contribution to the needed impact.

READ FULL STATEMENT BELOW;

Mr. and Mrs. Modupe and Folorunso Alakija through Famfa Oil Pledge N1 Billion Naira to Support Nigeria’s Fight Against COVID-19.

Lagos, Nigeria, 29th March 2020 Famfa Oil Ltd, one of the leading indigenous exploration and production oil companies in Nigeria, announced its contribution of N1 Billion Naira to support Nigeria’s fight against COVID-19.

Mr Modupe and Mrs Folorunso Alakija, Chairman and Vice Chairman Famfa Oil Ltd : “As the world rallies to deal with the health, security, economic and social implications of the coronavirus, it’s clear that we will feel the effects much more deeply than many of the developed world. Managing a crisis of this magnitude means that the strength of our response will determine our ability to weather the storm.

Individually and collectively, we are rising to this unprecedented challenge in a way that symbolizes our resilience, our character and strength. Famfa Oil Ltd is pleased to be able to make this contribution and will work in consultation with key stakeholders such as:

National Center for Disease Control, N250,000,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty million Naira)
Lagos State Government N250,000,000 (Two hundred and Fifty million Naira)
African center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, 50,000,000 (Fifty million Naira)
Medical Workers on the Frontline in Lagos 100,000,000 (One hundred million naira)
Medical Workers on the Frontline in Abuja 100,000,000 (One hundred million naira)
Supply Of Medical Equipment to relevant organizations 245,00,000 (Two and forty five million Naira)
DR Ameyo Stella Adadevoh (DRASA) 5 Million Naira (Five million Naira)
With our contribution we will together take the charge in our fight against the Coronavirus. These are the organisations we as a company will work in adhering to their needs and will interact with suppliers so that we can deploy our contribution in the most impactful way.

Famfa Oil Ltd commends the efforts made by the Federal and State Governments towards the fight against the pandemic in Nigeria and enjoin all Nigerians to follow stipulated health guidelines in order to keep us all safe. May God Bless our country Nigeria.

FAMFA OIL