Kano, Kaduna, and Kebbi states are the top three beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, investigations have revealed.
Based on analysis of figures obtained from the National Social Investment Office, over 49,579 schools in 29 states have been benefiting from the scheme as at the end of June, this year.
The NHGSFP is one of the components of the Social Investment Programme of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Apart from the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, the NSIO also coordinates the Federal Government’s Enterprise and Empowerment Programme; N-Power and the National Cash Transfer Programme.
The NGHSF currently provides a nutritious balanced meal each school day to public primary school pupils in classes one to three across the implementing states in the country.
As part of the value chain, the programme, according to the government, has also empowered food vendors and provided sustainable income for small holder farmers, thereby stimulating growth and productivity in the communities where the schools are located.
Menus are selected through the support of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture and officials of the Federal Ministry of Health.
A breakdown of the figures showed that Kano State has the highest number of benefiting schools with 4,982 schools.
This is followed by Kaduna with 3,897 schools while Kebbi State with 3,001 schools followed closely.
Other states that have high number of schools that are benefiting from the initiative are Benue with 2,571 schools; Bauchi 2,239 schools; Jigawa 2,190 schools; Katsina 2,712 schools; and Niger with 2,417 schools.
In the same vein, Oyo had 2,330 schools benefiting from the programme, Plateau 2,042 schools; Adamawa 1,194 schools; Delta 1,058 schools; Gombe 1,091 schools; Imo 1,234; Ogun 1,542; and Ondo with 1,136 schools.
Also, Osun had 1,300 schools, Sokoto 1,645, Taraba 1,712, Zamfara 1,451 schools, and Nasarawa 1,220 schools.
However, Edo State had the lowest number of schools that are benefiting from the school feeding initiative. The state had just 100 schools in the programme as at the end of June.
Other least benefiting states are Borno with 457 schools; Ebonyi 638 schools; Enugu 808 schools; Cross River 940 schools; Anambra 938 schools; and Akwa Ibom with 985 schools.
9,963,726 pupils benefiting from school feeding
The number of pupils currently benefiting from the programme is put at 9,963,726 according to the NSIO.
The Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Maryam Uwais, in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday, said the programme had been able to increase the number of pupil enrolment in the implementing states by about 31 per cent.
She put the budget per meal for the programme at N70 per pupil, adding that each food vendor is assigned between 70 and 150 pupils to feed.
FG spends N697.46m to feed 9.9m pupils daily
Based on the N70 budget spent per pupil, this translates to about N697.46m daily.
Uwais said, “The menu served in each of the jurisdictions is determined in consultation with the state commissioners for Agriculture and Health.
“Cooks are selected by the states based on their proximity to the schools, and the trust that the community reposes in them.
“They are trained, medically screened and compelled to open bank accounts to enable payment to be made directly into their accounts, through the NIBSS.
“Budget per meal is N70 per pupil, and each cook is assigned between 70 and 150 pupils to feed.
“The programme has recorded huge successes in terms of a sizeable increase in enrolment, as well as in terms of boosting the nutrition of the children.
“Financial inclusion is also a key beneficiary of this programme, as all of the cooks are compelled to open and operate bank accounts, as well as through mobile money agents.”
She said the Central Bank of Nigeria and other stakeholders in the financial sector had been engaged to address the reports of attempts at blackmailing the cooks by persons who claimed they would remove them if they did not bribe them.
When asked if the fund recovered from the late Gen. Sani Abacha was part of the amount spent on the school feeding project, she said it was not part of it.
Uwais said the Abacha loot was spent on the cash transfer programme.
When asked to provide details of the beneficiaries of the cash transfer programme, she said the figures were being updated daily across the states.
She said, “It’s (Cash transfer programme figure) increasing day by day, depending on the extent of the state register, how many have been enrolled.
“…The FoI Act prohibits the sharing of their identities without their consent.”
By Ifeanyi Onuba,
THE PUNCH