•More 5 million Abia kids to benefit free meals
The Federal Government has pledged to increase the number of schools that will benefit from the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in Enugu State.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, who stated this after a meeting with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, disclosed that about 799 schools had enrolled for the programme in the state.
Umar-Faouq, who was represented by Director, Special Needs in the ministry, Mrs. Nkechi Onwukwe, said after a recent stakeholders meeting and launch of enumeration of beneficiaries, government thought of scaling up the NHGSFP programme to accommodate more pupils.
She said the enumeration was to enable the ministry to get the actual number of pupils, cooks and challenges, as well as gaps and issues to be resolved before upgrading the number of pupils and schools in the state.
The minister revealed that of the 799 primary schools, there were different variations in the number of pupils from primary one to three in each school, adding, however, that such had made it difficult to ascertain the actual number of pupils in each school benefitting from the scheme.
Umar-Farouq said about nine million pupils had benefitted from the programme in primary schools across the country, stressing that pupils from primary one to three were receiving one free meal daily nationwide since 2016.
Besides, an additional five million primary school pupils will soon be included among the nine million being implemented across the states under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP).
Umar-Farouq disclosed this yesterday in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, while presenting letters of engagement and tablets to about 70 persons trained independent monitors of the NSIP in the state.
The event also featured the unveiling of the stakeholders’ engagement on enumeration of the beneficiaries and scaling up of the NSIP programme.
Abia State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mrs. Ngozi Okechukwu commended the minister for sustaining the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, saying: “It is unlike most government programmes that degenerated or fizzled out when challenged with limitations, obstacles and criticisms.”
On his part, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who spoke through the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chris Ezem, said the state government remained committed to the implementation of the NSIP, saying it was achieving the objective for which it was created, which is to alleviate poverty in the country.
The state’s NSIP focal person, Chinenye Nwaogu commended Ikpeazu for providing the necessary support for to successful implementation of the programme in the state.
