(FLOWERBUDNEWS) The Action Aid International, an international NGO, has declared Niger state as one of the states leading in the implementation of Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) in the country.
Mr Kehinde Arowosegbe, Action Aid PATs-F Coordinator Kaduna, said this when participants of school feeding from six states on a study tour visited Niger state on Tuesday.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the states are Kaduna, Benue, Bauchi, Ogun, Anambra and Akwa Ibom.
NAN report that about 9.9 million pupils were currently benefiting from the Federal Home Grown School feeding Programme in 56,000 schools across the country with 107,000 food vendors.
Arowosegbe explained that the school feeding project international was an NGO working with Kaduna state HGSFP to ensure that the school feeding programme was implemented in a transparent and accountable manner.
“We have a recommendation from the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme that there is a robust success in the school feeding programme in Niger state.
“On getting here, we have seen a lot of things to copy from the state that will be replicated in other states for the success of the programme.
“We have been to other states and even outside the country, precisely South Africa, and we can say that it is only Niger state that is doing well among other states in school feeding.
“We have seen during our tour that the food is being package in a central store of which we only saw that in South Africa,” he said.
He noted that the state was moving towards international standard of a robust school feeding programme.
Meanwhile, Mrs Amina Gu’ar, Focal Person of HGSFP in Niger, said that over 3,000 public schools were benefiting from the programme aimed at improving nutritional value among pupils and increase school enrollment.
She disclosed that the programme had created over 14,000 direct jobs and over 1,000 indirect jobs for the people of the state.
NAN report that during the 3-days study visit, the team would tour some selected schools in Bosso, Chanchaga and Paiko local government areas of the state. (NAN)
