Lagos Sets to Deliver Food to Primary School Pupils at Home

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board has disclosed plan to begin distribution of food to primary school pupils at home.

This was disclosed on Thursday May 14, 2020, by Chairman of Lagos SUBEB, Mr Wahab Alawiye-King, when he visited the warehouse where the food palliatives were kept in Ikeja.

He said that the initiative was part of the Presidential directive that the Home Grown School Feeding Programme must continue in spite of school closure.

He explained that the government agencies involved had been working relentlessly for the past few weeks to ensure that the directive is carried out.

“The programme is under the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Home Grown School Feeding Programme, in collaboration with the Lagos State Government through the Universal Basic Education Board and all stakeholders in the basic education sub-sector”, the Chairman stated.

“We need to understand that the school feeding programme had been running before now; it is targeted at primary 1-3 pupils in public primary schools.

“We have gone around using our school vendors and school management board based on available data to identify and verify the households that will benefit from the programme,” he said.

He also assured that the exercise would be transparent, as international and local organisations are part of the monitoring group involved to ensure that the food palliatives get to the right households.

He stressed that over 37,589 homes are being targeted for the pilot scheme.

“202 centres are designated for the distribution of food packages which include 5kg of Rice, 5kg of Beans, 2 Rolls of Sachet Tomato Paste, 500ml of Palm and Groundnut Oil, Salt and 12 Eggs”, Alawiye-King added.

The Special Adviser to the President on National Home Grown School Feeding (NHGSF), Mrs. Titilola Adeyemi-Doro, also said that the federal government is basically coordinating the process while the state is to take ownership because the resources to reach the students are available to the government.

She said that Lagos SUBEB is taking the lead in collaboration with all stakeholders in the education sector.

According to the Board Secretary of LASUBEB, Mrs. Folusho Ajimoti, a series of meetings were held to ensure efficient distribution of the food items, adding that vouchers would soon be given to the various households already identified.

She also emphasised that Board members, alongside Education Secretaries of each local government as well as food vendors, will form part of the distribution team with relevant stakeholders serving as monitoring groups.