Federal Government has assured sustainability of School feeding Programme as part of effort to address the out of School children.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on the National Home Crown School feeding Programme, Dr Yetunde Adeniji made this known during a meeting with stakeholders on school feeding and Value for money Research held in Kaduna.
Dr Adeniji explained that, President Bola Tinubu has shown commitment to reintroduce the feeding programme which was suspended during the beginning of his administration.
According to her, the current administration is passionate to ensure that children are well nourished within schools and no child is left out of education.
Dr Yetunde Adeniji also called on all every one, perticulerly the private sector, development partners and International Community to joint hands together to ensure that School feeding Programme is sustainable.
She noted that , the call became necessary not only because of the children but the value chain attached to programme perticulerly women that are cooking the food, local farmers among others.
“The National Home Grown School Feeding programme, started in 2016 and since it’s inception, government had been feeding children from primary one to three and some states extended from four to six”
“President Bola Ahmad Tinubu reintroduced this programme when the dispensation started and we have been trying our best to ensure that all bottlenecks has been removed”
“Unfortunately the programme has been suspended not because of anything but for us to revitalize the system. The programme is still Under suspension that is the reason we sat down we said ok, in the aspect of ensuring that this programme come back better and stronger.What are the things that we meed to do, what are the challenges on ground”
“That is why we sat down with development partners, we came up with something called the value for money research ”
“The value for money is a research programme to ascertain the true value for what we spent for the School Feeding program”
Dr Yetunde Adeniji who noted that, the Governor of Kaduna State was passionate to see out of School Children across the state are back to classrooms. Commended him for working assiduously for the development of women and children.
Earlier, Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe said Kaduna State government was fully in support of efforts to reintroduce School feeding Programme in primary schools.
Dr Balarabe represented by the State Commissioner for Education, Professor Sani Bello revealed that, the state government was ready to partner with the federal government and other development partners to ensure the reintroduction of School feeding Programme is successful.
In a remark, ALGON Chairman in Kaduna State, Shu’aibu Bawa Jaja, represented by the Lere local government Chairman Mr Mathew Gambo Kakuh, commend the SSA to the President for bringing stakeholders to discuss and chatted way forward on school feeding, saying that, by the time the Programme fully take up it would be a success.
The Coordinator of Social Intervention programme in Kaduna State, Umar Sani Maikudi said if the School feeding programme resumes in the state, about seven hundred thousand pupils will benefit as well as to create employment opportunity for more than seven thousand women.
Various Stakeholders attended the meeting.
AMINU DALHATU
