Senator Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, has said that the Nigerian Government spent approximately $100 million to feed 10 million Nigerian children through the National School Feeding Programme.
Ngige stated that the school feeding programme was implemented as part of the social security programme to entice children involved in child labour to return to school.
The minister stated this in his office on Friday, when he received the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, and Department of State officials who paid him a courtesy visit.
He went on to say that the government had implemented social protection to combat poverty, which was a major contributor to the prevalence of child labour in Nigeria.
In a statement, Olajide Oshundun, Head of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, revealed this.
Ngige stated,
“We have introduced the National school feeding programme under our social security, to lure children back to school. As of today, we are feeding 10 million children across the country. We have spent nearly $10 million on this.
“We have also taken more schools into the areas prone to child labour and made education free in the whole country through the Universal Basic Education Act and the Child Rights Act.
“For the people with disability, we introduced the Disability Peoples Commission to give them full and comprehensive aid so that they will not feel that they have any disability. If you don’t support someone with a disability, it is outright poverty.”
