Nigeria, UN partner to feed over nine million pupils
Nigeria and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have struck a deal to sustain and scale up the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), as schools reopen across the federation.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja from WFP and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, both parties disclosed that the project had reached over nine million students in 53,000 public primary schools, making it one of the largest school feeding programmes in Africa.
Both partners said they would take the programme to the next level, noting that the
According to them, the initiative has also led to a significant increase in school enrollment across the country, adding that the programme has provided a much-needed boost to local economies through sourcing of products of smallholder farmers and providing jobs to more than 107,000 cooks from low-income families.
The WFP Country Director, Ronald Sibanda, on his part, noted: “One of the best ways of fighting hunger and preventing malnutrition among children is to provide them with a healthy school meal. Nigeria is a good example of where the government has taken the lead from day one and invested resources and funding into the design and implementation of its National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme. This is a great initiative, and WFP is very pleased to provide technical support for the government of Nigeria.”
