The federal government has said so far, it has released over N375 million in five states for the implementation of its school feeding programme.

The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice-President, Laolu Akande, made this known in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday.

Akande said the release of the amount was meant to feed almost 700,000 primary school pupils in the five states.

According to him, all states of the federation, except two, are now being processed for the payment of N30, 000 monthly stipends to 200,000 graduates, who are the N-Power beneficiaries.

Giving an update on the federal government’s Social Investment Programmes (SIP), Akande, according to The Cable, noted that the programmes were proceeding at different stages of implementation.

He revealed that last week, the government released money for the “smooth” implementation of the feeding programme in Anambra, Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Ebonyi.

“The sum of about N375, 434, 870 has just been released and paid to 7,909 cooks in those states for the feeding of a total of 677, 476 primary school pupils,” he said.

Akande said Ogun got a total of N119,648,900 paid to 1,381 cooks to feed 170, 927 pupils, while Ebonyi got N115,218,600 paid to 1,466 cooks to feed 164,598 pupils.

He said Anambra got N67.5 million paid to 937 cooks to feed 96,489 pupils; Oyo State got N72.2 million paid to 1,437 cooks to feed 103,269 pupils, and Osun got N867,370 paid to 2,688 to feed 142, 193 pupils.

Akande said all monies were paid directly to the cooks and covered 10 days of school.

He also disclosed that Zamfara and Enugu States would soon be paid N188.7 million and N67.2 million, respectively, later in the week.

“In Zamfara, the sum would be paid to 2,738 cooks to feed 269,665 pupils, and in Enugu, the sum would be paid to 1,128 cooks to feed 96, 064 pupils,” he said.