The Federal Government said it has commenced the release of funds for the second school term for the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme. 

Though the amount disbursed was not revealed, the Federal Government, however, explained that funds for the first cycle of feeding in 2023 are being released to State government-appointed vendors across participating schools.

The fund is expected to be used to provide free meals to 9,990,862 pupils fed across the nation.

The meal is aimed at boosting the enrollment of kids and supporting their nutrition. 

This is contained in an announcement posted on LinkedIn and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo

It reads: “This is to inform the general public that the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development has commenced the release of funds for the second school term for the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme. 

“As public primary Schools resume nationwide, funds for the first cycle of feeding in 2023 are being released to State Government appointed vendors across participating schools for the provision of free meals to enrolled pupils, to encourage enrollment and support their nutrition. 

“The School Feeding Programme is an initiative of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration aimed at providing one nutritious meal to pupils of primary 1 to 3 in public schools. 

“Through this programme, State governments are responsible for ensuring meals are prepared and served to pupils using funds released by the federal government.

“Every feeding cycle is to last 20 days in a month, 5 days in a week. 

“Currently the programme is feeding close to 10 million pupils in over 50,000 public primary schools.

The Minister, Sadiya Farouq called on participating State governments to ensure that all actors involved ensure good service delivery and that released funds are utilised according to the program design.

She also urged the general public, parents, headmasters and teachers, NGOs, and CSOs to report any compliance issues via the reporting application which is available for download on IOs and Android.