150,000 primary school pupils benefit from Kogi feeding programme

KOGI state government on Monday said no fewer than 150,000 pupils of public primary would benefit from the Home Grown School Feeding programme of the Social Investment programme of the federal government.

The benefiting pupils are to be picked from primary one to three for the programme expected to kick off by July.

The Head Unit of the scheme, Hajia Khadijat Karibo, while speaking in Lokoja, the state capital, said the implementation of the programme would be preceded by a pilot scheme.

According to her, 2200 schools cutting across the 21 local government areas of the state would be selected for the pilot scheme.

Karibo said the scheme would commence by July as all preparation to achieve a hitch free take has been concluded,

She said, “We are just waiting to sort out the caterers that will handle the feeding. We have called for applications from those caterers, but we want it to be those who have experience in school feeding program.

“We also have health officers who will conduct health check of the pupils before the feeding will commence. We want to be sure that the health of these pupils will be guarantee before, during and after the scheme.

“We must however eulogized the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello who provided the operational fund that has assisted us in getting to this stage. His support for the scheme is commendable.”

She explained that the programme would be used to further empower farmers in the state as they would supply the caterers with the farm produces that are most consumed in the area in order not to give room for health hazards of the intending beneficiaries pupils who may not react perfectly for foods they are not used to.

Focal Person for the scheme, Adoga Ibrahim, said the grown school feeding would generate 3000 direct employment for indigenes of the state, while about 10,000 farmers who will be giving loan to support their farming in order to make such required food available for their area.

He said the state government after the pilot scheme will also extend the programme to pupils from primary four to five.