Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, says that no fewer than 7.4 million pupils are benefitting from the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme(NHGSFP) of the Federal Government.
Osinbajo, represented by Mr Boss Mustapha, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), made the disclosure at a National Symposium on NHGSFP on Friday in Abuja.
The symposium, organised in partnership with the National Social Investment Office, was in honour of the African Day of School Feeding.
NHSGSP is one of the pillars of the social investment efforts of the Federal Government.
“I am amazed at the level this wonderful programme has attained; this is a major success recorded.
“The programme provides a social safety net that improves the health and education of the poorest and most vulnerable children.
“NHSGSP is among our efforts to combat poverty; it is anchored on ensuring nutrition for our children.
“It is our attempt to reach the family unit in very real times; we have some good work in this regard; it is currently operating in 22 states in Nigeria with 7, 487, 441 pupils as beneficiaries.
“We must appreciate the micro-economic effect of this; it has engaged 75, 330 cooks; over 8000 persons are employed in the value chain– that helps in fighting poverty,’’ he said.
Mustapha said that there was need for all stakeholders to scale up their efforts at making the programme a huge success.
He called on all arms of government to strengthen their commitment to NHSGSP.
In her address, Mrs Maryam Uwais, Special Advisor to the President on Social Investments, said that objective of the meeting was to showcase the current NHGSFP; its concept, process and challenges to generate the highest level of political commitment.
She said that the programme was functional in 22 states viz–Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba, kaduna, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa, Niger, Kano, Kastina and Gombe.
