FG launches home grown school feeding programme in Bayelsa

Federal Government has launched the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme in Bayelsa State, to encourage increases enrollment of pupils in primary schools in the state.

The program was launched by the minister Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq.

Represented by Director Legal Services of the ministry, Barrister Garba Haganawega, Farouq said program is one of the clusters under the federal government’s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) aimed at providing one free nutritious meal per day to pupils of primary 1-3 in public primary schools nationwide.

In a communique signed by the Deputy Director of information in the ministry, Rhoda Iliya, she said globally, school feeding programs are increasingly being recognized as critical social protection interventions because they benefit vulnerable groups including children, their families, and communities.

“In Nigeria, the NHGSFP is a safety net for over 10 million children across thousands of communities and a lifeline for income generation for thousands of people”, she explained.

The Minister disclosed that “the key objectives of the NHGSFP are to increase school enrolment, attendance and retention, improve the nutritional and health status of school children, job creation by stimulating local agricultural production and local economy, provide empowerment opportunities for the cooks, thereby contributing to the promotion of food security for vulnerable households in Nigeria.”

Farouq further revealed that, with the aim to strengthen, sustain and scale up the programme to 13 million beneficiaries by 2023, the vision to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030 will be reached.

She informed that, Bayelsa State having fulfilled the conditions for onboarding unto the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, and signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), is ready to onboard the programme, stating that the state is joining the programme with a total number of 59,113 Pupils in 599 schools and 1,217 cooks across the eight Local Government Areas, (LGAs).