The Federal Government, on Monday said its National Home Grown School Feeding Programme has continued to gather momentum with Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Niger states bringing the number to 17 across the country, and contributing an additional one million pupil beneficiaries.
The School Feeding Programme, is a crucial part of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programmes, SIP, aimed at tackling poverty and hunger, as well as creating jobs for Nigerians.
The other 14 states already on the programme are Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba and Kaduna.
A breakdown of the figures from the three states by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity to the President (Office of the Vice President), shows that in “Cross River state, 117,750 children in 973 schools are being fed under the programme, while in Akwa Ibom, there are 171,732 children in 1,101 schools being fed. Niger State has a total of 710,880 being fed in 2,411 schools in the state.”
These bring the total number of children being fed daily as part of the programme to 4,773,064 pupils in 25,771 schools from across 17 states.
“This is a notable increase from the previous total of 2,918,842 schoolchildren from 19,881 schools in 14 states that had benefitted from the programme,” Akande added.
So far, about 34,869 direct jobs have been created from the SIP so far.
“In Cross River state, for example, 1,384 cooks have been engaged, while 1,309 cooks are currently engaged in Akwa Ibom State, and 5,924 cooks are engaged under the programme in Niger State.”
Meanwhile, few days after the United Nations designated 17th October International Day for Eradication of Poverty, the Federal Government said thousands of Nigerians identified poorest and most vulnerable have received the monthly Conditional Cash Transfer in Plateau and Cross River states.
About 115,000 beneficiaries are now being funded with the monthly N5,000 stipend in 16 states; including Borno, Cross River, Niger, Kwara, Ekiti, Kogi, Oyo, Osun, Plateau, Bauchi, Anambra, Jigawa, Taraba and Adamawa.
While admitting reported disbursement hitches in Benue and Anambra states, related mainly to non-opening of bank accounts and enrolling beneficiaries, the statement said they are being addressed.
“It is expected that by the end of next month the hitches would have been completely resolved and the beneficiaries in position to receive the cash transfers in those states.”
The CCT scheme directly supports those within the lowest poverty bracket by improving nutrition, increasing household consumption and supporting the development of human capital through cash benefits to various categories of the poorest and most vulnerable.