Humanitarian ministry dissociates self from diverted school feeding funds

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has dissociated itself from reports that N2.67bn meant for the feeding of schoolchildren during the lockdown was diverted to private accounts.

In a statement issued on Monday night by the Special Assistant on Media to the ministry’s minister, Nneka Anibeze, the ministry stated that the statement by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on the said funds was twisted and misinterpreted.

“The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development hereby informs the public that the Federal Government colleges school feeding in question is different from the Home Grown School Feeding which is one of its Social Investment Programmes,” it said in the statement.

It stated that the school feeding under scrutiny was the feeding of students in Federal Government colleges across the country.

“It is not under the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs which only oversees Home Grown School Feeding for children in Primaries one to three in select public schools across the country,” the ministry argued.

It added, “The ministry or the minister does not even handle or disburse funds for Home Grown School Feeding. The money for funding the programme neither passes through the minister nor the ministry.”

It explained that the over N2.5bn which was reportedly misappropriated by a senior civil servant took place in a different ministry and not the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.