The Federal Government yesterday flagged off the distribution of Home-grown school feeding utensils and aprons as part of the school feeding programme.
The National Home Grown School Feeding (NHGSFP) is one of the cardinal programmes under the umbrella of the federal governments National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP).
Development experts said the school feeding programme are increasingly recognized as one of the most critical social protection interventions.
This, according to the experts, is as a result of the fact that the feeding programme benefit vulnerable groups including children, their families and the communities.
Flagging off the distribution of the home-grown school feeding utensils and aprons in Abuja, minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, restated the commitment of the federal government to the school feeding programme.
Umar Farouq who flagged off the distribution at the Local Authority Primary (LEA) Jabi, Abuja, said the school feeding programme is one of the key interventions of government under the NSIP.
She noted that the programme is very important to the government ast it is one of the strategies government is employing to move over 100 million Nigerians out of the poverty belt.
The minister further noted that under the programme, new school enrolment has hit over 9.1 million leading to improved school attendance and reduced the number of out of school children in the country.
According to the Umar Farouq, the school feeding programme has gone a long way in enhancing agricultural production, thereby generating jobs in the agricultural sector of the economy.
Responding on behalf of the pupils of LEA Primary school, Jabi, little Christabel Iyamabhor, expressed gratitude to the government for initiating the school feeding programme.
Iyamabhor, a Primary Three pupil of the school urged the minister to ensure that government sustains school feeding programme.
Items handed over to the school include stainless plates and cutleries. All the items are locally produced in the country.
