FG begins feeding of schoolchildren at home Thursday

The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development announced on Monday night that it would commence the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme on Thursday, May 14, 2020.

It said the programme, which would ensure the provision of food ration to schoolchildren at home, would begin in Abuja and subsequently in Lagos and Ogun states before it would be extended to other states.

Although school children are at home with schools shut as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President via a March 29, 2020 pronouncement directed the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to liaise with state governments to develop strategies on the continuation of the school feeding programme.

The ministry stated that after consultations with state governments, it identified the distribution of Take-Home Rations to the households of children in the programme as a feasible method of achieving this directive after exploring several options.

“This is a globally accepted means of supporting children to continue to have access to nutrient-rich foods despite disruptions to the traditional channels of school feeding,” the ministry said in a statement issued in Abuja.

The ministry said it had requested states to carry out mapping exercises in order to trace the households of the children using all available data sources.

It said some of the sources include the School-Based Management Boards, community focal persons, cooks on the programme and, most importantly, existing school registers in the Local Government Areas where the schools are domiciled.

“As a second level of verification, the door-to-door voucher distribution process will be used,” it explained.

The statement added, “The provision of Take-Home Rations will, therefore, be carried out based on data provided and structures put in place by the HGSFP over the years, with the Federal Government providing funds to the states for implementation.”