About 337,589 would benefit from the modified school feeding programme in Lagos, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouk, has said.
Represented by the Director, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDP’s, Mrs Margaret Ukegbu, at the inauguration of the school feeding programme in Lagos on Thursday, Hajiya Farouk said:
The special homegrown feeding intervention will impact 337,589 beneficiaries made up of Parent, Guardians and Care Givers of primary school children in participating schools.
The identified and selected household will each receive 5kg bag of Rice, 5kg bag of Beans, vegetable and palm oil, salt, tomato paste and 15 pieces of eggs.
These rations have been revealed by nutrition expert to ascertain the nutritional value and benefits to the children.
Meanwhile, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, the Commissioner of Education, Lagos State, explained that the modified school feeding programme was a continuation of the existing homegrown feeding programme; a collaborative effort between the State and Federal Governments where 100,000 public primary school pupils were fed daily.
Mrs Adefisayo, however, reechoed the importance of food in the development of a child, noting that the modified feeding programme would go a long way in achieving that.
The Commissioner stated:
When a child is growing, it’s quite imperative that a child should have good quality balanced diet in order to feed the brain and ensure that the brain grows appropriately because an hungry child cannot learn properly so looking at the take-home ration its truly a balance diet.
In the meantime, the Executive Chairman of LASUBEB, Hon. Wahab Alawiye-King said the commencement of the distribution of the take-home rations was to ensure that the hardship caused by COVID-19 was minimised, while also stating that a lot of work had gone into ensuring that the modified home feeding programme was carried out in a transparent and seamless manner.
He said:
In a few days, all the targeted households would have received their vouchers which will enable them collect their food rations. At the end of the exercise, 37,589 households of pupils in primary schools (primary 1-3) would have been fed.
