The Federal Government, yesterday, said N999 million would be spent daily to feed approximately 10 million pupils in its National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, (NHGSFP), across the country.
The Team Lead of NHGSFP, A’ishatu Digil, disclosed this at a stakeholder meeting on disbursement modalities for the review cost of feeding in the programme, in Abuja.
She said the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiyya Umar Farouq, got the approval of spending N100 per person daily on the feeding in the programme.
She further explained that 9, 990, 862 pupils from Primary One to Three in the programme would now be fed with N100 daily for 20 days in a month, which would amount to N999,086,200 daily.
“Prior to this, we were feeding school children with N70 per child, per meal. This was since 2016, but the President has approved an upward review to N100.
“We have all stakeholders like the World Food Programme, National Bureau of Statistics, National Orientation Agency, (NOA), Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Ministries of Agriculture, Education, and others to deliberate on the modalities of disbursements.
“We are here basically to look at how best we can realise the benefits of the programme based on the new approved cost to improve the standard and quality of the meal and menu for the children.
The minister gave the breakdown of the N100 as follows: N70 for the cost of all food items, except egg; N14 for the cost of an egg; N10 stipends for cooks, N5 and N6 for micronutrient fortification, payable to cooks, and one naira for quality assurance, payable to supervisors, which is optional.
The programme is to be implemented through the State structures, in partnership with the Poultry Association of Nigeria.
Digil said the programme would ensure the elimination of poor implementation practices, adding that the ministry was looking out for reforms.
Meanwhile, the National Resource Person of the National Social Investment Programme, Dr. Umar Bindir, said that the programme was not the responsibility of the Federal Government alone.
Bindir said to implement the procedure of deploying the N30 which made it N100 for effective feeding of school children, it was absolutely necessary to consult with stakeholders.
However, some stakeholders suggested that State governments should actively involve others, saying that the cooking of meals should be done within the school vicinity and that farmers should also be evaluated.
