School Feeding: Nigerian Government increases cost of feeding per child from N70 to N100
The Nigerian government has approved an increase in the cost of school lunch from N70 to N100, as well as the training of 42 cooks under the Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).
The goal of the training is to increase their performance and provide a healthy and sanitary experience for children. The title of the project is tagged ‘Nationwide Documentation and Training of Master Cooks on NHGSFP’.
Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, spoke at the event in Lokoja, saying the training aimed to improve the cooks’ ability to provide safe and nutritional meals for kids.
The minister, who was represented by Susan Simpa, the NHGSFP’s nutritional assistant, stated that the 42 trainees would return to their respective local governments following the course to train others.
According to her, two cooks were chosen from each of Kogi’s 21 local governments, who will then train 20 cooks in their respective communities.
According to her, the NHGSFP is part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which aims to lift poor Nigerians out of poverty.
She went on to say that the training will improve the NHGSFP’s hygiene pattern and that the government had also given excellent cooking utensils to the cooks.
The goal, according to Suleiman Onyekehi, the NSIP focal person in Kogi, was to enhance the quality of food and nutritional values provided to pupils, as well as improve school enrollment.
Mr. Onyekehi, the Kogi governor’s special adviser on special projects, said the federal government was taking the program seriously because of its purpose and objectives.
He advised the audience to pay close attention in order to ensure that the new standards were followed to the letter.
“As a result, I want you to take this training seriously and regard it as a service to humanity,” he said.
He also stated that the NSIP Kogi recruited 2,933 cooks for the NHGSFP, with over 800 additional cooks waiting for official approval in order to accommodate the additional schools and students who will benefit from the initiative.
He explained that the delay was caused by the nationwide enumeration of students.
He revealed that the Nigerian government had approved an N70 to N100 increase in the cost of feeding per child, which had yet to be implemented. According to him, the Nigerian government is working hard to get the program up and running as soon as possible when school resumes for the third term.
“The cost per child is N70,” Fatima Abdulmumin, a participant who spoke on behalf of the cooks, said. “We are expecting the federal government will boost it to N100 as they have promised because goods are now very expensive.”
Source: NAN
