The federal government has set a target of reaching 20 million children through the Homegrown School Feeding Programme to boost enrollment and attendance, improve academic performance, and raise smallholder incomes through stable local procurement by 2026.
Vice President Kashim Shettima announced this on Friday at the National Policy Forum on the Institutionalisation and Implementation of the Renewed Hope National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, held in Abuja.
The forum was hosted by the Presidential Committee on Economic and Financial Inclusion, in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria and other stakeholders.
Represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs, Office of the Vice President, Dr. Kolade Fasua, Shettima said the expansion under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, was the boldest yet in the history of the intervention.
“Alongside the core programme, the government has inaugurated the Alternate Education and Renewed Hope School Feeding Project, an expansion that targets out-of-school and highly vulnerable children, with the ambition of reaching up to 20 million by 2026,” he said.
With the integration of the National Identity Management Commission system, Shettima added, transparency would be assured so that “real pupils receive real meals, and every naira spent works twice—once for the child, and once for the local economy.”
While acknowledging that sustaining nationwide coverage could cost as much as N1 trillion, the Vice President argued that the initiative should not be seen as a drain on public finances but as a nation-building investment.
“Ambition requires investment, and the federal government has acknowledged that sustaining national coverage may require around one trillion naira.
“But this is not a cost. It is a nation-building investment with high social, economic, and security return. This is why the school feeding must be understood not just as a social intervention but as a national security investment,” he stressed.
According to him, every hot meal served in a classroom also acts as a barrier against recruitment into violent groups, a reinforcement of the state’s presence, and a source of hope in conflict-prone communities.
The Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Tanko Yusuf Sununu, represented by Director, Social Development, Mr. Valebtine Ezulu, called for a National Home Grown School Feeding Act that will provide legal backing for the programme.
He further recommended the development of a nutrition guideline, in line with global best practices, to ensure safe and healthy feeding for the children.
Also, the Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu said acording to the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, Nigeria scores just 0.36—meaning a child born here today will achieve only 36% of their productive potential if nothing changes.
He said between 2018 and 2022, enrolment in basic education increased from 35 million to 40 million. Yet the number of out-of-school children grew from 9.1 million in 2000 to 14.6 million in 2020.
He said today, of the 60 million Nigerian children aged 5–14, more than 45 million cannot read a simple text at age 10, with 15 million completely out of school.