NATIONAL SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME TO BECOME AFRICA’S LARGEST BY END OF 2018, SAYS VP OSINBAJO
* Over 9m primary pupils benefiting in 26 states already
* Over $183million has been invested so far
* 95,422 cooks and over 100,000 smallholder farmers benefitting
By
the end of 2018, with the number of new States in the country joining
the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme, it is set to become the
largest school-feeding programme in Africa, says Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo, SAN.
He stated this in Tunisia, where he
delivered a keynote address at the closing ceremony of the 20th Annual
Global Child Nutrition Forum held at Four Seasons hotel in Tunis,
stating that the programme “has been by all accounts, a remarkable
success.”
Speaking on the philosophy underlying the
Programme, Prof Osinbajo told the 353 delegates from 9 countries, which
include experts in the nutrition industry, United Nations officials from
World Food Programme, Global Child Nutrition Fund, the World Bank and
stakeholders that “Nigeria took the decision to embark on a school
feeding programme as an important part of our human capital development
agenda, by tackling the broader issues of eradication of poverty, food
and nutrition security, and increasing school enrollment.”
He
added, “it is becoming clearer that the 21st Century will be defined by
knowledge and skills. The nations that are best able to present the
most knowledgeable and most skilful citizens will prevail in commerce,
in science and technology and of course, will enjoy the greatest
prosperity and the longevity to enjoy the prosperity. Nations that do
not invest enough to produce the required level of talent and skills
will be left behind. A farther distance than ever before in the history
of mankind.”
Emphasizing on the importance of the
school-feeding programme, he posited that “For developing countries such
as ours and of course many African countries, by far the greatest
challenge for us in the next three decades is that of effective
investment in the health and education of our population. Nutrition is
key to both, to enable children usefully participate, learn and develop
mentally and physically to be able to compete in an increasingly
competitive global environment.”
“By 2035, Africa will
have 1.2billion people. Over 50% of that number will be young persons
under the age of 25. Today, 60 per cent of the unemployed in Africa are
young people”, he observed.
Expatiating on the scope and
cost of the Programme, Prof. Osinbajo said “at a cost of $0.19 per child
per day, we are able to provide a balanced meal for every one of the
children. 9,300,892 million pupils in 49,837 public primary schools in
26 states across Nigeria benefit daily.”
According to
him, “at current numbers, the programme costs $1,767,169.48 per day and
over $183million has been invested so far in the programme. The
programme employs 95,422 cooks, and over 100,000 smallholder farmers
linked to the programme, supplying locally sourced ingredients. This
translates to 594 cattle, 138,000 chickens, 6.8 million eggs, 83 metric
tons of fish that are procured, prepared, and distributed each week. As
you can imagine, the quantity of starch and vegetables required for this
program on a weekly basis is equally impressive”.
The
Vice President highlighted the physical and health benefits to children
currently being impacted, he stated that “energy and nutrients with
established links to cognition- carbohydrates, protein, fat, iron and
iodine as well as minerals with public health importance, are targeted
by the NHGSF”, adding that “the program aims to provide 50% of the
recommended nutrient intake targets for protein and prioritized
micronutrients (iron, iodine, zinc, vitamin A, folate and vitamin C and
30% of energy because of the high burden of undernutrition and
micronutrient deficiencies in Nigeria.”
Other benefits
achieved under the programme include a ready market and a sustainable
income for our farmers, as well as improved livelihoods for cooks with
access to useful and affordable financial products and services that
meet their needs. “Financial inclusion is a key enabler to reducing
poverty and boosting prosperity”.
“Moreover, with the
capturing of their biometrics and the opening of bank accounts as a
prerequisite to their participation in the programme, we are ramping up
on our country’s needs for identification, planning and social inclusion
efficiencies in Nigeria.”
He told the audience that the
success of the programme in a short time is due to factors such as
unequivocal political will, transparency and accountability, good value
for all participants in the value chain, multi-sectoral coordination and
strategic partnership with international donors such as Melinda and
Bill Gates Foundation and Partnership For Child Development, Imperial
College.
Prof Osinbajo earlier commended the Global Child
Nutrition Forum and World Food Programme, for providing such an
excellent opportunity for the global school feeding community to come
together to share ideas, learn from and inspire each other.
Present
at the occasion were Hatem Ben Salem, Minister of Education, Republic
of Tunisia; Arlene Mitchell, Executive Director, Global Child Nutrition
Fund; Don Burdy, Specialist at World Food Programme/World Bank; Daniel
Balaban, Director of Centre of Excellence Against Hunger in Brazil and
other regional representatives of WEF and GCNF, international donors as
well as other participants.
‘Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
25 October 2018
