The Honorable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs at the NHGSFP. Photo Credit: Federal Ministry of Information and Culture

In fulfillment of President Buhari’s promise on March 29 to continue school feeding programme as one of the palliatives FG would provide to cushion the economic effects of the enforced lockdown in Abuja, Ogun and Lagos states against the spread of COVID-19, the federal government, on Monday, May 11, 2020 reiterates its intention to feed school children at home.

The feeding programme which is targeted at public school pupils in primary 1-3, according to the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, shall commence in Abuja on May 14, and shall afterwards be extended to Lagos, Ogun and other parts of the country.

The Ministry revealed that the families of the school children shall receive uncooked food items that have been “reviewed by nutrition experts to ascertain the nutritional value and benefit to the children.” In areas where there are clusters of communities, 6000 schools have been approved to serve as distribution centres.

In its communique on Monday, the ministry stated that it has “in consultation and collaboration with state governments identified the distribution of Take-Home Rations (THR) to the households of the children on the programme as a feasible method of achieving this directive after exploring several options.”

“Each household will receive a Take-Home Ration valued at N4,200 and made up of 5 kg Bag of Rice, 5 kg Bag of Beans, 500 ml Vegetable Oil, 750 ml Palm Oil, 500 mg Salt, 15 pcs of eggs, 140gm Tomato Paste.”

“As an extra layer of monitoring, the Ministry has requested other agencies of government including the DSS, EFCC, ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau and a host of NGOs and CSOs to help monitor. The Ministry’s hotlines will be made available to the public to provide accurate information and for grievance redress.”

The Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, had earlier said that over 8.6 million pupils have so far benefited from the National Home Grown Feeding Programme across the federation.