The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has announced a partnership with the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (RH-NHGSF) to bolster the delivery of Nigeria’s school feeding initiative.
This is contained in a statement signed by Kayode Adegoke, PhD, the NIMC’s Head of Communications Unit on Friday.
The statement read, in part, “In alignment with the Renewed Hope Mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR the National Identity Management Commission is proud to announce a strategic partnership with the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (RH-NHGSF).”
The RH-NHGSFP is a federal government initiative established in 2005 with the aim of improving the health and educational outcomes of public primary school pupils. It also focuses on local farmers’ produce to provide children with nutritious mid-day meals on every school day, beginning with 12 states selected from the six geopolitical zones.
By improving school attendance, boosting child nutrition, and supporting local agriculture, analysts say the program has emerged as a vital tool in addressing poverty and malnutrition in Nigeria.
However, challenges such as leakages, inefficiencies in meal delivery, and the need for a robust database to track beneficiaries have persisted.
NIMC’s involvement introduces a data-driven approach to overcome these hurdles. Leveraging the National Identification Number (NIN) system, the partnership seeks to create an accurate and comprehensive database of schoolchildren eligible for the program.
The partnership is expected to directly benefit over 9 million pupils currently enrolled in the program, while also providing indirect benefits to local farmers and food vendors who supply the meals.
Expected Benefits of the Partnership
- The NIN system will provide a reliable database to track beneficiaries, ensuring that resources are directed to the intended pupils.
- Digital integration will streamline processes, reduce administrative bottlenecks, and enable real-time monitoring of the program.
- By ensuring transparency in procurement, local farmers and vendors will be better integrated into the supply chain, boosting economic growth at the grassroots level.
- With a robust database in place, the government can expand the program to reach more schools and regions.
What you should know
- The school feeding programme was originally for public primary school pupils by the federal government has commenced steps aimed at expanding the coverage of the school feeding programme to accommodate children in military schools, para-military schools, out-of-school children, and children in emergency settings to reach universal coverage by 2025.
- The federal government Renewed Hope National Home Grown School Feeding and End Hunger Programme (RH-NHGSFEHP) is currently feeding over 53,000 schools and 9.9 million pupils in 35 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
