The Federal Government has stated that 9 million pupils have been enrolled in the National Home-Grown School Feeding programme (NHGSFP).
This was disclosed by Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, at a stakeholder meeting for enumeration of beneficiaries and scaling up of the NHGSFP programme, on Wednesday in Maiduguri
What the Minister said
Umar-Farouq, represented by Alhaji Grema Ali, a Director in the ministry, said that nine million pupils have been benefitting from the programme in basic schools across the country.
She said the pupils were receiving one free nutritious meal a day during school term nationwide.
“The NHGSFP is a multi-faceted intervention to drive school enrollment, boost the nutrition of the pupils, support local production of food as well as encourage employment and income generation.
Specifically, it is aimed at the provision of one nutritious meal to all pupils in public primary schools in classes 1 to 3 to achieve these objectives.
With over 100,000 cooks employed and 100,000 smallholder farmers participating in this value chain, the NHGSFP is a serious potential for socio-economic development which needs to be strengthened, scaled up, and sustained nationwide.”
She added that the ministry now has the mandate to reach an additional five million pupils by 2023, citing that partner agencies are working closely to verify the existing number of beneficiaries of the programme to update the records for effectiveness, transparency and accountability.
In case you missed it
- Nairametrics reported yesterday that the Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje revealed that the Federal Government spends the sum of N1.5 billion monthly on its School Feeding Programme in Kano State.
- The Federal Government also stated it has commenced the enumeration of beneficiaries of the National Social Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) across the country.