School feeding: FG to spend N999m on 10m pupils daily

From Okwe Obi, Abuja

The Federal Government has unveiled plans to spend N999 million to feed 10 million pupils daily, across the country as part of the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).

The government, through the Team Lead of NHGSFP, Aishatu Digil, stated this at a stakeholders’ meeting on disbursement modalities for the review cost of school feeding scheme, yesterday, in Abuja.

According to Digil, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, got the approval to spend N100 per person daily.

“Prior to this, we were feeding school children with N70 per child, per meal. This was since 2016 but the president has approved N100 upward review. We have all stakeholders like the World Food Programme, National Bureau of Statistics, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), ministries of Agriculture, Education and others to deliberate on the modalities of disbursements.

“We are here basically to look at how best we can realise the benefits of the programme based on the new approved cost to improve the standard and quality of the meal and menu for the children,” she said.

Digil said the programme would ensure the elimination of poor implementation practices, adding that the ministry was looking out for reforms.

National Coordinator, National National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), Umar Bindir, said the scheme was not the onus of the Federal Government alone.

Bindir said to implement the procedure of deploying the N30 that made it N100 in effective feeding of school children, it was absolutely necessary to consult with stakeholders.