The Federal Government’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme(NHGSFP) now feeds over 9.8 million pupils daily in 32 states.
Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the Vice President, who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, also said that Yobe has joined the programme.
Under the NHGSFP, school children in over 53,000 public primary schools are fed with one free, nutritious meal a day, while it has engaged over 106,000 cooks in the 32 states.
The 32 states currently benefitting from the school feeding programme are Anambra, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kogi, Sokoto, and Nasarawa.
Others include Taraba, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Plateau, Delta, Zamfara, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Niger, Katsina, Ondo, Edo, Gombe, Ekiti, and Yobe states.
In the second term of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the programme has a target of reaching well over 12 million pupils in all the 36 states and the FCT.
More so, the Federal Government has commenced the distribution of aluminium bowls and spoons for pupils in public primary schools in six states currently benefiting from the School Feeding Programme.
Under the First phase of the distribution, over 2.4 million bowls and spoons will be distributed in Plateau State (314,082), Adamawa (182,144), Kaduna (834,130), Katsina (742, 689), Oyo (199, 922), Delta (136, 710) and Ebonyi (73, 513).
The School feeding programme has not only helped to increase enrolment rates of pupils in the states, it is also effectively tackling early year malnutrition and the problem of stunting, while improving the cognitive skills of children.
The programme has also provided sustainable income for local farmers, jobs for cooks as well as increasing growth and productivity in the local economies(NAN).