The Federal Government said it would again set aside the sum of N500bn in the 2017 budget for its social intervention programme.
The amount when added to the N500bn earlier approved for the same purpose this year would bring the total budgetary allocation for programme to N1tn in two years.
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, gave the figure on Monday while speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on the national nutrition week.
The main objective of the week is to intensify awareness on the importance of food and nutrition to child survival and its impact on human development, productivity and economic development.
She lamented that despite the commitment of the Federal Government to nutrition, malnutrition was still a major challenge to national development.
She added that while it would be difficult for the government alone to address the issue owing to funding constraints, it would use the instrumentality of the budget in channelling funds to the intervention programme.
She said, “The 2017 budget that is currently being drawn also has a clear commitment to continue with all of the social intervention programmes that have started in 2016 and the school feeding programme is a significant component of it.
“In the 2017 budget, the Federal Government is also putting aside N500bn for social intervention programmes just as we did in 2016.”
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