• Junaid’s past time is to insult past leaders –Presidency

The Federal Government has released over N375 million this year to feed almost 700,000 primary school pupils in five states in its Social Investment Programmes, the Presidency has disclosed.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, in a statement, said virtually all states across the federation, except two, are now being processed for the payment of N30,000 monthly stipends to 200,000 graduates who are N-Power Beneficiaries. 

Akande said the federal government, last week, released money for the school feeding programme to Anambra, Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Ebonyi states to cover for 10 school days.

The Vice President’s media aide further disclosed that about N375.4 million had been paid to 7,909 cooks in those states for the feeding of a total of 677, 476 primary school pupils. 

Giving a breakdown of how the money was disbursed, Akande said Ogun State got a total of N119.6 million paid to 1381 cooks to feed 170, 927 pupils, Ebonyi  got N115.2 million paid to 1466 cooks to feed 164, 598 pupils, Anambra got N67.5 million paid to 937 cooks to feed 96,489 pupils, Oyo got N72.2 million paid to 1437 cooks to feed 103, 269 pupils while Osun State got N86,7370 paid to 2,688 to feed 142, 193 pupils. 

He said the monies were paid directly to the cooks for 10 school days. 

Akande added that the figures would go up later this week when Zamfara and Enugu States are expected to be paid N188.7 million and N67.2 million, respectively. 

On N-Power, Akande said the process of payments of verified graduates who were beneficiaries has reached advance stage. He said payment of the December stipends, which has gone across the country, would be completed in all states except two that did not meet the extended deadline for the verification process for December stipends. 

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On the Conditional Cash Transfer, (CCT), Akande said payments continued in the nine pilot states of Bauchi, Borno, Niger, Kogi, Cross Rivers, Osun, Oyo Ekiti, and Kwara States. 

In another development, the Presidency has described former House of Representatives member from Kano State, Dr. Junaidu Mohammed, as a serial attacker of every leader in power, saying “his  only past time is to insult past leaders and grab headlines with his jaundiced and malicious attacks.” 

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, stated this in a statement while reacting to Mohammed’s interview where he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of not acknowledging his mistakes.

According to the presidential media aide, taking responsibility for mistakes was one of Buhari’s strong virtue which he has demonstrated in words and deeds.

While warning Nigerians to be weary of Mohammed’s criticism, Shehu described his kind of criticism as toxic to national progress, “because, primarily, he is interested in destroying every positive effort and achievements of the government.”

Shehu noted that while Mohammed is entitled to his opinion, he is not entitled to misrepresent facts about the concrete achievements of the Buhari administration in the past two or so years, “including the undeniable fact that the Boko Haram terrorists have been significantly crippled militarily, because they no longer have the capability to invade and occupy towns and villages unchallenged by the country’s reinvigorated and motivated military personnel.”

“The fact that civil servants and political office holders are now afraid to steal with impunity is a major psychological boost for the anti-corruption crusade of the Buhari administration, which no sincere Nigerian can pretend not to notice.

“Contrary to Junaidu’s claims that President Buhari doesn’t acknowledge mistakes, we wish to remind the medical doctor that the President publicly took responsibility and apologised over the dissolution of the Governing Councils of Federal Universities when it was discovered that due process was not followed,” he said.

Shehu recalled that former Presidents Shehu Shagari, Ibrahim Babangida, Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan, “had all been victims of Junaidu’s jaundiced and malicious attacks.”