School feeding: FG distributes bowls, spoons to 523,000 pupils in Kaduna

School feeding: FG distributes bowls, spoons to 523,000 pupils in Kaduna

Mr Olugbenga Oyeneyin, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Abuja, says the Federal Government has begun distribution of aluminium bowls and spoons to 523,000 pupils in Kaduna State.
   
   
   
       
       
           
               
                   

Mr Olugbenga Oyeneyin, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), Abuja, says the Federal Government has begun distribution of aluminium bowls and spoons to 523,000 pupils in Kaduna State.

               
           
               
                   

Oyeneyin made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Kaduna, on the sideline of the distribution of the items which began in the state on Monday.

               
           
               
                   

He explained that the 523,000 represent 70 per cent of the 834,130 pupils benefiting from the programme in the state, adding that the Kaduna state government would provide the remaining 30 per cent.

               
           
               
                   

He said that over 2.4 million bowls and spoons were being distributed across 32 states of the federation in the first phase, as part of efforts to ensure that the pupils were fed under hygienic condition.

               
           
               
                   

“The National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme Office, Abuja, has observed that the vendors were feeding the pupils on plates that were unhygienic.

               
           
               
                   

“The federal government decided to step in to ensure that every child is fed in a hygienic condition and through the procurement and distribution of the aluminium bowls and spoons,” he said.

               
           
               
                   

Oyeneyin said that the items would be in the custody of the vendors for safekeeping and maintenance.

               
           
               
                   

Malam Musa Ibrahim, Director Higher Education, Kaduna State Ministry of Education explained that the 834,130 beneficiaries were less than the 1,069,140 pupils benefiting in the programme based on the ministry’s record.

               
           
               
                   

Ibrahim, who is the Programme Coordinator in the state, told NAN that the 834,130 figure was based on the head count conducted by the National Bureau of Statistic (NBS) to determine the actual number of beneficiaries.

               
           
               
                   

“But when we went to defend our figure at the NHGSFP Office, we realised that some schools were missing in the NBS list, which affected the total figure.

               
           
               
                   

“The schools that were missing were mostly in areas affected by insecurity, those in hard to reach areas and a few in urban centres, including primary school Lokoja Road, Rigasa with over 20,000 pupils.

               
           
               
                   

“We raised our observations and the NBS and the National Planning Commission are currently making the necessary adjustment to include those that were omitted in the list,” he said.

               
           
               
                   

He described the distribution of the items as ‘a good development’ that would ensure the needed hygiene in the implementation of the programme.

               
           
               
                   

He said that the Kaduna state government would provide the remaining 30 per cent of the bowls and spoons as soon as the distribution of the 523,000 were concluded.

               
           
               
                   

Mr Simon Bala of Stepcho Nig. Ltd., the supplier of the items thanked the federal government for empowering the company through the school feeding programme.

               
           
               
                   

“The gesture has helped to uplift our company, such that we had to hire additional hands, thereby providing jobs to thousands of idle youth in the states we are making the supplies,” Bala told NAN. 

Source: School feeding: FG distributes bowls, spoons to 523,000 pupils in Kaduna

- gist culled from pulseng