Vice-President Kashim Shettima says President Bola Tinubu has approved that 20 per cent of palliatives, in terms of food intervention, be routed through religious and traditional institutions.
Shettima made this known while delivering the keynote address at a High-Level Dialogue of Faith Leaders on Nutrition in Nigeria, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“The Imam of Bayero University (BUK) mentioned about the exclusion of the traditional and religious leaders in the distribution of palliatives.
“The President has approved that 20 per cent of the palliatives, in terms of food intervention, be routed through our religious organisations and the traditional institutions.
“The Tsangaya schools, the mission schools will be specially targeted for such intervention.”
The Vice-President said that government was working out logistics through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to ensure smooth implementation of the intervention programme.
“This intervention will be anchored in the office of the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, and he is going to anchor the programme.
“We are going to provide the overall supervision towards the implementation of the programme.
“Also, 20 per cent of the funds for the School Feeding Programme is going to be channeled through the office of the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning to the religious bodies,” he said.
Shettima stated that government had already commenced engagement and was working out modalities for the intervention to ensure a transparent disbursement, taking into cognisance all tendencies in the system.