The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, says training of stakeholders in the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) has commenced.
Speaking at a two-day capacity building workshop on Wednesday in Abuja, the Minister, Sadiya Umar-Farouq said that the programme was an initiative of Federal Government to provide one free nutritious meal to pupils in public schools.
The aim of the training according to the Minister is to strengthen the capacity building of the stakeholders on the school feeding initiative.
Represented by Ms Aisha Digil, NHGSFP, Team Lead, Umar-Farouq said that the initiative provided one free nutritious meal to pupils from primary one to three nationwide.
She said that no fewer than nine million children were currently benefiting from the programme.
Similarly, the Deputy Gov. Osun, Benedict Alabi said that school feeding programmes remained significant social safety net interventions to specifically strengthen the educational sector.
Alabi, who was represented by Ms Folake Olaniyan, Osun School feeding manager said this was with a focus on vulnerable children by improving capacity through good foods.
“It may interest you to know that the programme has greatly and unprecedentedly improved the level of enrollment of pupils and their retentive capacity in our state, thereby reshaping elementary education in the state,’’ he added.
In his remarks, Sasaki Taigo, Senior Representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Nigeria Office said that the workshop was a good opportunity to share good lessons and best practices on Nigeria Home-Grown School Feeding.
“As well as adopt the HGSF guidelines and share the IFNA progress in Nigeria and introduce the IFNA training tools for improved nutrition and food security.
Taigo further said that JICA was currently implementing a nutrition improvement project through agriculture in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He explained that the purpose of the project was to enhance capacity of nutrition officers for delivering nutrition interventions in FCT.
He, however, appreciated the AUDA-NEPAD, IFNA Secretariat for putting this workshop together as well as the Team Lead of the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme for the support and partnership.
“I believe your contributions today will go a long way in further improving the outcome of this workshop.
“It is our utmost desire to see that Home-Grown School Feeding programme continue to gain nationwide acceptance and adoption as well in other African countries.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Japan International Cooperation Agency and other partners.