An additional five million pupils are to be included in the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP).
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, disclosed this in Asaba, during the formal handing over of feeding utensils for beneficiaries of the programme in Delta State.
The minister said plans were underway to update the existing data of the programme to facilitate the inclusion exercise in line with the directive of President Muhamadu Buhari.
Farouq, who was represented by Emmanuel Deekor, explained that HGSFP was introduced by the Federal Government to tackle hunger and alleviate poverty in the country.
“We have commenced a nationwide enumeration exercise with the aim of verifying existing data, upgrading the quality of data and updating our records to accommodate the scaling up of the programme with an additional five million beneficiaries as directed by President Buhari,” Farouq stated.
The minister disclosed that over nine million pupils were being fed across the federation and that the exercise had created job opportunities for over 100,000 cooks as well as other productive activities within the school ecosystem.
She further stated that the home-grown school feeding was a collaboration between the federal and the state governments where the Federal Government provides the funds.
According to the minister, participating states were saddled with day-to-day implementation, such as procurement of food items, selection of the cooks and other logistics.
On his part, the Permanent Secretary in the Directorate of Humanitarian and Community Support Services, Dr Chucks Nwani, who represented the Delta State government, disclosed that the state had played its collaborative role judiciously.
He said that the state government had put in place structures that ensured that programmes and policies under the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) of the Federal Government in the states were effectively implemented for the overall good of the people in the state.
Nwani said the state had also succeeded in its efforts to better the lots of people of Delta State by making sure that the poor and the vulnerable in the state were properly identified.
He remarked that one of such necessary social intervention mechanism was the establishment of the Directorate of Humanitarian and Community Support Services in the state, with the mandate to facilitate all social investment programmes.
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