Vice President Kashim Shettima has said that the Federal Government is committed to ensuring that no Nigerian child is denied education because of hunger.
He recently emphasised the importance of institutionalising the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.
Speaking at the National Policy Forum on the Institutionalisation and Implementation of the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme for Sustainable Economic Growth and Financial Inclusion, held at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, Shettima revealed that the programme is both a social and economic investment.
According to him, no Nigerian kid deserves to learn on an empty stomach, and while some people see school meals as charity, they are actually an economic infrastructure.
He stated that the Renewed Hope National Homegrown School Feeding initiative was designed to increase enrollment and attendance, enhance academic performance, and boost smallholder incomes via stable local procurement.
“Today we made a simple, powerful promise. No Nigerian child should learn on an empty stomach, and no Nigerian farmer should be excluded from the prosperity their labour creates. That is at the heart of our Home-grown school feeding programme for a sustainable economy. We are committed to building a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
The journey does not begin on the trading floors or in boardrooms. It begins in the classroom and in the smallholder field, where nutrition drives learning and uptake drives livelihoods.
School meals are not charity they are economic infrastructure, a guaranteed daily nationwide market that links local producers, processors, transporters, cooks and schools into a living value chain.
This year, the federal government relaunched the Renewed Hope National Homegrown School Feeding Programme, signaling a decisive return to scale and systemization. The Programme is designed to boost enrollment and attendance, improve academic performance, and raise smallholder incomes through stable local procurement.
Alongside the core program, the government has inaugurated an orphanages and Renewed Hope School Feeding Project and expansion to cater for school and out of school children which is an ambition of N1 trillion by 2026,” he said.
He further noted that the programme also helps to lure Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs, women and vulnerable citizens into the financial system.
Shettima concluded by urging the private sector to invest in the initiative’s value chain to boost human capacity development.
“When farmers see guaranteed demand, when cooks receive fair and timely pay, governments and parties are scaling and improving delivery standards, Nigeria’s relaunch places us at the forefront of this regional movement,” he added.
