The Federal Government (FG) has donated 225, 000 branded quality feeding utensils to Gombe state government for the smooth running of its school feeding program in the state.
According to the Minister, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD), Sadiya Umar Farouq, the intervention was to ensure that pupils in the state benefit more from the program.
She explained that since inception in 2016 about 1,234 schools have been enrolled, with 228,646 Children being fed across the state. The minister who was represented by the National Coordinator of the NSIP, Dr Umar Bindir at the handing over of the utensils in Gombe added that 3, 037 vendors have so far been engaged in Gombe.
She said, “the total investment in all of these by the federal government is N320, 104, 400 million monthly. A rough estimate reveals that on the National Home-Grown School Feeding Program (NHGSP) alone, the federal government has invested over N4.5 billion already in Gombe,” Sadiya said while assuring that there is hope for an increase in spending soon in the state.
Sadiya further explained that NHGSP which is one of the four clusters of the National Social Investment Program (NSIP), was mainly designed to address poverty in all its form and that it is a close implementation collaboration between the federal and states governments.
She said, “the FG is responsible for generating the specific policies, designing the program, setting the implementation strategies guiding on the monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment activities and most importantly release funds.
State governments on the other hand are responsible for the day-to-day implementation,” the minister said while expressing hope and appealing for proper use of the utensils donated to Gombe.
Speaking on behalf of the government, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Abubakar Ibrahim Njodi, assured that the intervention would be properly put to use for benefit of the school children in the state.
