Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday that the federal government targets 24 million children for its national Home Grown School Feeding programme.
Speaking at the official launching of the Strategy Framework/Source Book and inauguration of the National Coordinating Team at the State House in Abuja, Osinbajo said the programme would create multiplier effect as it rolled out the programme.
He said the present administration was committed to ensuring all the benefits of the programme are real in the lives of the affected people.
He said the programme would ensure children from disadvantaged homes are not distracted while learning.
He said: “The school feeding programme is part of government’s intervention programme for which half a trillion naira has been budgeted for in the 2016 spending plan.
“The federal government is targeting to create 1.14 million jobs, 290,000 jobs from community caterers (women), 580,000, Jobs from support caterers (women) and 274,000 jobs for small holder farmers.
“The government is also eyeing to attract N980 billion investment. In the first year, the programme will be implemented in 18 pilot states including Kaduna and Osun states where the school feeding programme is already being implemented.
“These pilot states will be selected based on multi-dimensional poverty index (MPI) and will include three states from each of the six geopolitical zones in the country. The main objective of the programme include to ensure school enrolment and completion, child nutrition and health, local agricultural production and creating jobs and improving family and state economy.”
In his remarks, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna stars said the state school feeding programme which commenced in January this year currently caters for about 1.6 million pupils.
He said the state targets additional 300,000 pupils from nursery schools when it receives the federal government’s matching grant.
According to him, the state spends N318 million weekly to feed children weekly.
The governor said from September this year, the parents of any child found hawking during school hours would be arrested and prosecuted, adding “in Kaduna State there is no excuse not to be in school.”
He said there were leakages and fraud in the programme and those behind the scam would be arrested and jailed.
Also speaking, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun state, said only the state is currently implementing the programme known as Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O-Meals) out of the 13 states that were part of the pilot scheme in 2006.
He said the state currently has 3,007 food vendors (women) and the funding is split between the state (40 per cent N1.21 billion) and local government (60 per cent – N1.812 billion).
He said the number of pupils feed daily rose from 129,318 in 2009 to 252,793 in 2014, thereby increasing school enrolment in elementary school to about 40 per cent.