FG to enrol an additional 5 million students by 2023 – Minister
Written by admin on July 2, 2021
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development Hajiya Sadiya Umar- Farouq said the Federal Government plans to enroll around five million students in the National Home Grown School Feeding Program (NHGSFP) by 2023.
Farouq made the revelation during a stakeholder meeting in Zamfara to enumerate beneficiaries and scale up the NHGSFP.
Mrs. Halima Oyelade, Special Assistant on Corporate Communications to the Minister, made the announcement on Friday in Abuja.
“During the school year, about nine million students in the United States receive one free nutritious lunch per day.
“The NHGSFP represents a serious potential for socio-economic development, with over 100,000 chefs employed and over 100,000 smallholder farmers engaging in this value chain. It needs to be strengthened, scaled up, and sustained nationwide.
“I am glad that the Zamfara and Federal NHGSFP teams, as well as other partners, are working together to verify existing numbers of beneficiaries on the program and update records for improved efficacy, transparency, and accountability.
“As a result, while applauding the Zamfara government for its dedication to implementing the NHGSFP, I would like to encourage us all to do more to guarantee that more children benefit from this program.”
She went on to say that the NHGSFP was created as a multi-faceted intervention to increase school enrolment, improve student nutrition, support local food production, and promote employment and revenue development.
“In particular, it aims to provide one nutritious lunch to all students in public primary schools in grades one through three.”
She added the decision to launch the National Social Investment Programme, which includes the NHGSFP, N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfer, and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme was motivated by President Muhammadu Buhari’s mission to combat extreme poverty.
