Nigeria To Develop Inclusive Policy For School Feeding Programme

The Nigerian Government has taken a step further to develop an inclusive policy on the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, NHGSFP with support from the World Food Programme WFP.

National Coordinator, National Social Investment Programme, Dr Umar Bindir, stated this at the ongoing Policy Consultation workshop on School Feeding Programme in Abuja, Nigeria.

According to Bindir, the workshop is to ensure that the Programme is sustainable, measurable and impactful in line with the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari.

He further said that the programme is a continuation of the deliberate strategy of the national social investment Programme to institutionalize the cluster.

“As we speak, we are feeding an average of 10m children with a potential that that number will be increase to 11 – 12 million children in probably next few weeks or months and as a feeding rate approved by Mr President of 100 naira, our bill monthly is within the range of 12 to 13 billion naira. It is very expensive and formidable Programme; attracting students to attend school, ensuring children are healthy, children of the poor and vulnerable attending school longer and pass exams better”, he said.

The Programme has drawn participants from the academia, NGOs, MDAs and private actors.

 “I am expecting that at the end of the day when this process is concluded, we will get a document that talks the process of implementing the Home Grown school Feeding Programme in Nigeria that is not only feeding children, that is not only building capacity of women in rural area, that is not just encouraging children to pass in mathematics and English, but is also encouraging small scale farmers to produce more, to encourage processors in rural communities to do more. So, this is an all encompassing package and I’m sure the policy will capture all these”, Bindir added.