We’ve spent nearly $100m feeding 10m Pupils – FG

The Federal Government said it spent about $100 million in feeding 10 million pupils under the National School Feeding Programme as part of it’s effort to end the menace of child Labour

Dr. Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labor and Employment, made the disclosure as he welcomed Mary Leornard, the US ambassador to Nigeria, and representatives of the Department of State on a courtesy visit on Friday in Abuja.

Ngige said that the Nigerian government had introduced the school feeding programme under its social security programme, to lure children engaged in child labour, back to school.

He said the Federal Government also introduced social protection programmes to fight poverty, which is the major contributory factor to the prevalence of child labour in Nigeria.

According to him, “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 $100 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 and the Child Rights Acts.

“For the people with disability, we introduced Disability Peoples Commission, to give them full and comprehensive aid.

“This is so that they will not feel that they have any disability. If you don’t support someone with a disability, it is outright poverty,’’ he said.

The minister, however, commended the US Government for the recent technical assistance of the Department of Labour to West Africa.

He said that this was in the area of fighting violence and harassment at work under Convention 190 of the International Labour Organisation.

“Nigeria and Liberia are listed there and the fund is $5 million, estimated to be spent on the project. We think that it is a step in the right direction.

“Just last week, we got information of another $4 million for anti-child labour activities in Nigeria.

“Ondo State was chosen as the pilot state for the fight against child labour in the area of cocoa farming. We think this is a good step in the right direction.

“Because over the years, from the time we visited for African Growth and Opportunities conference under the Department of Labour and Trade in Washington in 2017, we had made it clear that the US Government has to take practical steps for us to follow,” he said.

Ngige added, “we can’t be mouthing child labour and we leave it unattended to when we know that most of those engaged in it are those trying to make up for family needs.”