President Bola Tinubu has approved the routing of 20% of palliatives through religious organisations and traditional institutions in the country.
Vice President Kashim Shettima made this known on Tuesday while speaking at a high-level dialogue on nutrition at the State House in Abuja.
Shettima said this while responding to concerns raised by the Imam of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) about the exclusion of traditional and religious leaders from the distribution of palliatives.
He said: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is conscious of his obligations to the Nigerian people. He’s very much alive to the fact that the very essence of government is to provide support services and security to the lives of the citizenry.
“The President has approved that 20% 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 interventions.”
Shettima also announced that 20% of the funds released for the School Feeding Programme will be channeled through the office of the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning to religious bodies.
He said: “We have already commenced the engagement, we are working out the modalities so that we can have a hitch-free disbursement, a very transparent disbursement, taking into cognizance all the tendencies in our system”.
Shettima also unveiled an ambitious plan to improve nutrition across Nigeria with a rallying call to faith and traditional leaders to champion the effort in their communities.
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