President Bola Tinubu has revealed that the newly approved 2024 budget contains a N100 billion provision for school food programs for students across the country.
He made this comment at the State House in Abuja during the signing of the 2024 appropriation bill into law.
According to the president, the provision would act as a motivator to increase school attendance and lessen the problem of out-of-school children.
“One of the priority areas of the bill we just passed is the N100 billion provision for the feeding of schoolchildren. I believe that is a stimulant that will encourage school enrollment and also address malnutrition among schoolchildren.
“I will be meeting with local government at sub-national levels so that we can collaborate and jointly implement an all-inclusive programme,” the president said.
The president also acknowledged that the “Renewed Hope” budget is based on cutting recurring spending while increasing capital spending.
The budget, according to the president, also shows his administration’s attempt to cut the deficit from 6.11% to 3.88%.
He said, “The budget is anchored on reducing the deficit and increasing capital expenditure, particularly in our priority areas. The approved 2024 budget achieved both objectives.
“It contains a good increase in the capital side, a reduction in recurrent expenditure. And it brought down the deficit from 6.11% to 3.88%.”
Nairametrics reported earlier in December that President Bola Tinubu had restored the school food program and directed that it be transferred from the Humanitarian Ministry to the Education Ministry.
The initiative, which was previously discontinued under former President Muhammadu Buhari, will now be overseen by the Education Ministry, with the goal of not only providing healthy meals to students, but also encouraging attendance and improving learning.
This relaunch, according to President Tinubu, is critical in “checking the learning crisis” and building a better educational environment for all pupils.
Speaking about the progress, Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education, stated that the program’s purpose is, “to figure out how to put all of the policies created to address the issues into practice and assign accountability to various organisations in charge of solving the issue of out-of-school youth.”
