The federal government flagged off the National Home Grown School Feeding Program in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The FCT Minister of State, Ramatu Aliyu, who hosted the inauguration at Karu Model School, in Abuja, on friday 31/01/2020, said that 120,300 pupils across the six area councils would benefit from the programme.
Mrs Aliyu, who hosted the event alongside the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, explained that the pupils are drawn from the 626 public primary schools in the FCT.
"The program is targeting about 120,300 pupils that will be drawn from 626 public primary schools across the six Area Councils of the FCT.
"Henceforth, pupils will be fed once daily with meals containing the six required nutrients, from primary one to three.
"I want to assure you that all stakeholders - parents, teachers, traditional and community leaders - who are the gatekeepers, and the vendors who will prepare the meals will be carried along in the full implementation of this programme," Mrs Aliyu said.
Mrs Aliyu, who stated that the program in FCT was for pupils in LEAs, however, called on community leaders and all stakeholders in the FCT to assist the federal government in lifting the burdens off indigent parents who cannot afford balanced diets for their wards.
School Feeding
The school feeding program was introduced in 2016 as part of the N500 billion funded Social Investment Program of the Buhari administration. It was projected to provide 1.14 million jobs across the country, including community women, who would be engaged as cooks.
The program, with the support of state governments, aims to support states to collectively feed over 24 million school children, which will make it the largest school feeding program of its kind in Africa. The goals include tackling poverty and improving the health and education of children and other vulnerable groups.
According to a 2019 government document titled "Investing in Our People," the program is feeding over nine million pupils in 52,604 schools across 30 states and empowering 101,913 cooks with bank accounts.
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