THE President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s National Home-grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) is now feeding 8,260,984 pupils in 45,394 public primary schools in 24 states, Presidency said yesterday.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said the government has achieved its target of 5.5 million pupils being fed free daily under the programme in 2017.
Akande added that the 24 states benefitting from the school feeding programme are: Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba, Kaduna, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa, Niger, Kano, Katsina, Gombe, Ondo and Borno.
According to him, over 80,000 direct jobs have also been created from the School Feeding Programme; with 87,261 cooks presently engaged in the 24 participating states.
The 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), he said, will eventually benefit from the programme.
He said: “The programme’s educational, economic and health benefits have been praised by many.
“Not only has the Buhari administration’s School Feeding Programme created jobs for thousands of Nigerians in these communities where the programme is being implemented, it has also helped to boost local economies by linking the local farmers to the school feeding market.
“Similarly, the school feeding programme continues to record significant milestones in the classrooms as the scheme has led to an increase in enrolment.
“Another important aspect of the School Feeding Programme is that by providing a meal a day for millions of pupils, it addresses the issues of malnutrition and stunting among children, increasing the chances of the pupils making a significant headway in their learning and in life.
“The NHGSFP plans to implement feeding in 28 states in the coming months, and all over the country soon after.”