Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola has disclosed that he spent N10 billion to feed 252,000 school children in Primary 1-4 under the Osun School Feeding Programme known as OMEALS.
The governor made this statement at the public presentation of some documents on the social protection policies of his administration which were enacted into law and published with the support of the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Aregbesola said more than 250 million plates of food were served to 252,000 pupils daily at the cost of N70 per plate and that this cost the state government the sum of N10 billion.
The Governor noted that he used the programme to empowerment 3,007 community caterers to prepare the food for the pupils.
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall while speaking said the state has a long-standing record of social development having outperformed all other states as per the Multidimensional Poverty Ranking report of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative 2018 that ranked Osun at first place nationwide.
Represented by UNICEF Chief Social Policy, Mr Hamidou Poufon, Fall said, “social protection is increasingly an important component of sustainable development and a veritable tool for advancing the development agenda. Consequently, UNICEF will also support state of Osun in the full implementation of this so I also protection law that is launched today”
The event was attended by the former governor of the state, Chief Bisi Akande and the Governor-elect, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Ondo State, Mr Tejinder Sandhu and the UNICEF Communication Officer, Mrs Blessing Ejiofor among others.
