FG to commence feeding of 120,300 FCT pupils in January

The Federal Government ’ s National Home Grown School Feeding Programme will commence in the Federal Capital Territory in January , with a target to feed 120 , 300 pupils .
Programme Manager , NHGSFP -FCT , Mrs . Victoria Aleogena , disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Wednesday .

Aleogena , who is also Deputy Director , School Health , FCT Education Secretariat , said that the pupils would be drawn from 626 public primary schools across the six area councils of the FCT .

She said the pupils would be fed once daily with meals containing the six required nutrients from primary one to three .

She urged vendors , community leaders and all stakeholders in the FCT to assist the Federal Government in lifting burdens off indigent parents who could not afford balanced diets for their wards .

“ Hopefully , the school feeding programme will kick start in FCT come January 2019 . But what we are currently doing is preparatory .
“ We have done the state level sensitisation and that was to tell the FCT residents that the programme is basically coming out .

“ We are carrying everybody along, parents , teachers , traditional and community leaders who are the gatekeepers , and the vendors who will prepare the meals.

“ It is a good thing that the Federal Government in its wisdom is feeding Nigerian pupils , because it is happening in other states .

“ The programme in FCT is for pupils in LEAs. In FCT we have 626 primary schools and as at 2018 / 2019 academic session we have 120 , 300 that will be benefitting from this programme from January , ” she said .

She also gave the assurance that the process of selecting the 1 , 200 vendors needed to handle the feeding would be transparent and based on high standard to ensure good hygiene .

“ We have told the would – be vendors to go and collect forms . These forms are free , all they need to do is to get to the LEA secretary in the area councils and collect it .

“ The only thing expected of them is to affix a passport photograph and that ’ s the only cost they will bear . They also need either a civil servant or a traditional ruler to attest for them .

“ For the recruitment, we are in partnership with the Public Health Department of the FCT , they are responsible for the conduct of the food handler ’ s test . They have an international standard for handling of public foods and this will be done purely on merit .

“ This process will give us about 1 , 200 vendors to cover the six area councils of FCT based on their experience , track records and capacity . We normally engage extra vendors to take care of possible gaps when the programme starts running , ’’ she said .

She said a feedback mechanism involving the head teachers , health teachers and the class teachers of each school was being put in place .

“ We are in the process of training the head teachers , health teachers and class teachers in each school . These three people will be responsible for the day – to -day monitoring of the feeding in their respective schools .

“ They are responsible for generation of data and information , punctuality of vendors and adherence to the meal timetable , ’’ she said .

She said that the meals would include bread and beans , egg and jollof rice, yam and sweet potato porridge, rice and beans with fish and various types of fruits .

( NAN )

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