The Presidency on Thursday said the National Homegrown School Feeding scheme, a component of the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programmes, has started in Anambra State.
According to a statement by the Laolu Akande, spokesman of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, the pupils were served moin-moin garnished with vegetables on the first day of the exercise.
Akande said an estimated 76, 690 pupils in 1050 schools would be served every school day in the state under the feeding programme that caters to pupils from Primary 1-3.
He said, “Having met the stated requirements for Federal Government funding for the Homegrown School Feeding, a sum of N53, 687, 900 had been released directly to cooks for the kick-off of the school feeding programme in Anambra, to last till the end of the current school term.
“All the cooks were recruited from communities around the primary schools for the program, verified and trained to provide the catering service in the 21 LGAs in the State.
“Generally, the Homegrown School Feeding programme, which is one of the Social Investment plans of the Buhari presidency, is driven through community participation where residents in the community are engaged as cooks to provide feeding services. Also the programme leverages on the agricultural produce available within the communities.
“The Homegrown School Feeding programme of the Buhari administration will not only boost school enrollment and improve the nutritional status of the pupils, it would also stimulate local farming, while equally creating jobs including the 774 cooks now in gainful employment in Anambra State.”