From Okwe Obi, Abuja

The Federal Government has disclosed plans to incorporate additional 5 million pupils into the school feeding scheme before the end 2023 to the already 9 million pupils benefiting from the daily free meal.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, stated this during a courtesy visit to the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, yesterday in Abuja.

Represented by the Zonal Monitor of the National Home-Grown School Feeding program, Abubakar Sulaiman, she said:
“Today, we are here in Akwa Ibom State on the strength of our partnership and mutual recognition of the need to do more on the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme NHGSFP, to bring more Nigerians under the umbrella of the Government’s social protection mechanism, to look at scaling up the number of the pupils benefiting from the Program.”

With over 100,000 cooks employed and more than 100,000 smallholder farmers participating in this value chain, the minister said the NHGSFP is a serious potential for socio-economic development if strengthened and sustained nationwide.

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She added that she will continue to work with State and Federal NHGSFP teams as well as key stakeholders such as the National Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Education, National Orientation Agency, National Population Commission, National Youth Service Corp, UBEC and State Education boards for effective results.

“We are working jointly and closely to verify the existing number of beneficiaries on the program and update the records for better effectiveness, transparency and accountability,” she said.

Meanwhile, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom, represented by the Commissioner of Women Affairs, Ini Adiakpan thanked the Federal Government for its foresight and consistency in reaching out to the vulnerable.

Adiakpan promised that the state government will continue to play its part in ensuring that the initiative records a 100% success.

The Zonal Monitor and the Project Task Team of the NHGSFP held a meeting with the state Project Task Team where enumeration exercise forms were presented to the State Director of National Orientation Agency.