The Nation Newspaper

Tag: National Home Grown School Feeding Programme

  • 120,000 Anambra pupils enjoy school feeding

    About 120,000 pupils in Anambra State have benefited from the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Social Investment, Mrs. Chinwe Iwuchukwu, has said.

    Iwuchukwu, who spoke yesterday in Awka at a one-day Linkage and Reorientation Workshop for cooks and farmers, hinted that about 1,062 cooks, serving in 1,060 government primary schools, were involved in the programme.

    She explained that the programme, which had been on since December 2016, was aimed at increasing school enrolment, improve nutrition, increase agricultural production as well as create jobs.

    Read also: FG spends N49 billion on school feeding programme

    The aide hailed Governor Willie Obiano for ensuring that Anambra started the school feeding first.

    Commissioner for Agriculture, Mechanisation, Processing and Export Afam Mbanefo, who opened the workshop, said the programme had created 1,062 and 3,000 direct and indirect jobs.

    He said: “The workshop is to establish link between the farmers and the cooks, so that the farmers will supply products to the cooks at a reduced price to ensure that the program continues to achieve its desired objectives.”

  • States urged to embrace school feeding, cash programmes

    Special Adviser to the Governor on Social Investment, Mrs Maryam Uwais, has called on states to key into the Federal Government’s National Social Investment programmes (N-SIPs), particularly the cash transfer and school feeding programmes.

    Mrs Uwais said in an interview in Lagos that the two programmes had the potential of increasing the number of children in school, boosting their nutrition, as well as increasing household incomes.

    While the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) programme is already in place in 20 states, the cash transfer programme which provides N5,000 to poor households monthly is ongoing in 23 states of the federation.

    Regarding the cash transfer programme, Mrs Uwais said it is targeted at the poorest 30 per cent of households in the selected Local Government Areas (LGA) for the programme.  She said through the programme states could know where to site new schools as she said their research had shown that 60 per cent of the communities where cash transfer programmes are ongoing have no primary schools.

    Should states site primary schools in close proximity to such communities, Mrs Uwais said beneficiary cash transfer households with children attending school would get additional N5,000 monthly.

    “Our research has shown that 60 per cent of 30 per cent of poor communities where we have our cash transfer programme have no primary schools within a three kilometer radius.  If we don’t get state buy in, we cannot get access.  If a state should provide schools, once children in the households receiving cash transfers go to school, we will give extra N5,000 to scuh families,” she said.

    For the NHGSFP, Mrs Uwais said the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) which oversees N-SIPs programmes, has gone beyond its target of feeding five million children thereby increasing enrolment and boosting nutrition.

    “6,044,625 pupils are being fed daily in 20 States by 61,352 cooks in 33,981 primary schools,” she said, adding that plans were in place to extend the programme to six more states in the first quarter of this year.

    She said the government plans to cover the rest of the country soon.

    “As at August last year (2017), the federal government spent N6.2 billion on the school feeding programme in 14 states. This has encouraged increase in school attendance across the country as the programme is also designed to improve school enrollment and completion.

    “The National Home Grown School Feeding Programme has served 246 million meals. We are in about 60,000 schools around the country. Government wants to expand the programme to 36 states as this will ensure about 24 million children in 36 states and the FCT get fed, making the school feeding programme the largest in Africa.”

    Apart from feeding children, Mrs Uwais said the initiative has provided jobs for farmers, cooks and transporters, and others.

    She however lamented that corruption was affecting the gains of the feeding programme and urged the state governments to block the loopholes.

    “We are struggling to battle with some issues.  In one state, state officials went as far as diverting 80 per cent of the cooks’ money from their account to a special account in connivance with the banks.  In many schools, the progarmme is working well.  But we need feedback so we can catch the culprits,” she said.

    Two other programmes managed by the NSIO are the Government Empowerment and Enterprise Programme (GEEP) which provides zero interest loans to over 1.2 million Nigerian artisans; and the N-Power, a job creation and youth employment programme which targets 500,000 unemployed graduates.

  • Pupils get 246 million Buhari’s meals, says Presidency

    Pupils get 246 million Buhari’s meals, says Presidency

    *Says more than 6m pupils in 20 states being fed daily

    *8 more states expected to be added in 2018

    *300,000 interest-free loans disbursed to artisans, traders

    *280,000 Nigerians benefit from Conditional Cash Transfer in 21 states

     

    The Presidency on Saturday disclosed that over 246 million (246,355,190) meals have been served to date to primary pupils across 20 states in the country.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Laolu Akande, said that the first meal under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) was served in December 2016.

    According to him, the total figure is expected to reach 313,928,420 meals by the last week of February 2018.

    He said “Also, the School Feeding Programme now feeds 6,044,625 pupils in 33,981 public primary schools across 20 states.

    “More states are expected to be added to the programme this year. The NHGSFP plans to implement feeding in a total of 28 States, while it aims to link farmers to school feeding markets.

    “In the same vein, several milestones were recorded by the Buhari administration’s National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) in 2017, in line with its inclusive growth plan, which includes tackling poverty and hunger, and creating jobs for Nigerians.

    “About 40,000 direct jobs have since been created from the School Feeding Programme across the participating states. The 20 states that have so far been covered by the NHGSFP include Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba, Kaduna, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa, Niger, and Kano.

    “Also, in 2017, the school feeding programme collaborated with the Federal Ministry of Health to deliver an integrated deworming programme for pupils in all public primary schools classes 1 to 6 across 17 states nationwide.

    “Meanwhile, the School Feeding programme now has a social media-based quality assurance tracking system, #TrackWithUs, ensuring that required standards for menu for pupils and meal distribution are adhered to across the states in a transparent manner.

    Read Also: Buhari not a murderer, says Presidency

    “Similarly, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) has so far recorded over 280,000 beneficiaries in 21 states, while about 300,000 Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) micro-credit, interest-free loans have been disbursed nationwide.

    “In the same vein, in 2017, the N-power scheme, which is targeted at providing jobs for unemployed young graduates, started its physical verification process for the 2017 applicants. In 2018, more beneficiaries are expected to be added to about 200,000 young graduates currently employed under the scheme.” he said

    Noting that a total of N900 billion was appropriated for the SIPs in 2016 and 2017; he said that N500 billion was appropriated in 2016 and N400 billion appropriated in 2017.

    He however, said that the total amount released was N110 billion for 2016 and 2017, while the total expenditure was N109 billion.

    He added “Below is a breakdown of the N109 billion released between October 2016 and November 2017 for the SIPs, namely: GEEP, CCT, NHGSFP, N-power, and general expenditure.

    “The GEEP expenditure was N11,700,200,466, while the CCT gulped N5,235,401,087.

    “In the same vein, between October 2016 and November 2017, N22,370,719,017 was expended for the Home-grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP); while N69,731,256,122 was expended on N-power, which is the Job Creation component of the SIP, during the same period.” he said

     

     

     

  • 17 states benefit from Buhari ‘s Sch Feeding Programme – Presidency 

    17 states benefit from Buhari ‘s Sch Feeding Programme – Presidency 

    …monthly Conditional Cash Transfer now funded in 16 states for 115,000 Nigerians
    The Presidency on Monday said that three more states have been added to the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, with an additional one million children now benefiting from it.

    The three new states, according to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Laolu Akande, are Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Niger states.

    He said “This brings to 17 the number of states currently participating in the School Feeding Programme, a crucial part of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programmes, SIP, aimed at tackling poverty and hunger, as well as creating jobs for Nigerians.

    “The other 14 states already on the programme are Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba and Kaduna.

    “So far, in Cross River state, 117,750 children in 973 schools are being fed under the programme, while in Akwa Ibom, there are 171,732 children in 1,101 schools being fed. Niger State has a total of 710,880 being fed in 2,411 schools in the state.

    “In total, 4,773,064 schoolchildren in 25,771 schools in 17 states are currently benefitting from the school feeding programme.

    “This is a notable increase from the previous total of 2,918,842 schoolchildren from 19,881 schools in 14 states that had benefitted from the programme.

    “About 34,869 direct jobs have since been created from the School Feeding Programme across the participating states. In Cross River state, for example, 1,384 cooks have been engaged, while 1,309 cooks are currently engaged in Akwa Ibom State, and 5,924 cooks are engaged under the programme in Niger State.

    “Meanwhile, few days after the United Nations designated 17th October as the International Day for Eradication of Poverty, thousands of Nigerians identified poorest and most vulnerable have received the monthly Conditional Cash Transfer in Plateau and Cross River states.

    “About 115,000 beneficiaries are now being funded with the monthly N5,000 stipend in 16 states; including Borno, Cross River, Niger, Kwara, Ekiti, Kogi, Oyo, Osun, Plateau, Bauchi, Anambra, Jigawa, Taraba and Adamawa.” he said

    He said that the reported disbursement hitches in Benue and Anambra states, are being addressed.

    “This mainly has to do with non-opening of bank accounts and enrolling beneficiaries. It is expected that by the end of next month the hitches would have been completely resolved and the beneficiaries in position to receive the cash transfers in those states.

    “The CCT scheme directly supports those within the lowest poverty bracket by improving nutrition, increasing household consumption and supporting the development of human capital through cash benefits to various categories of the poorest and most vulnerable.

    “The School Feeding Programme and Conditional Cash Transfer schemes are two of the Buhari administration’s N500 billion Social Investment Programmes, SIPs, aimed at improving the lives of ordinary Nigerians nationwide through welfare and empowerment programmes,” he stated.

    Read Also: Buhari frowns at states’ inability to pay workers

     

     

  • FG begins school feeding scheme September

    The Federal Government will commence its National Home Grown School Feeding Programme in September with 5.5 million school pupils across the country.

    The National Programme Manager for the scheme, Mrs. Abimbola Adesanmi, who stated this at a stakeholders’ workshop on the Ogun State Home Grown School Feeding Programme, held in Abeokuta, the state capital, Wednesday, said the project would accommodate pupils in primary one to three at the take – off stage.

    Abimbola said while states, depending on readiness, would define their respective model based on cost effectiveness and sustainability, the federal government will provide oversight and technical support.

    “The FG is providing oversight and also supporting the states with technical assistance to strengthen the structure that exists in the states. They federal government is providing funds to feed pupils in primary 1-3 as a start -up.

    “For this year, it is beginning with 5.5 million pupils and with increase in enrolment, we may go beyond that. But that is what we plan for now.

    “There are a lot of factors involved, we have to know how many pupils are in school and that is the first determinant. This workshop would assist us in determining that,” she said.