Government launches school feeding programme

LAGOS -- The poverty status of most parents in Nigeria is keeping millions of children out of school inspite of the 1999 launch of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) and the enactment of the UBE Act in 2004 aimed at achieving the United Nations Millennium Development goals of Education for All (EFA) by 2015.
Though school enrolment has increased statistics by the Federal Ministry of Education show that seven million children who should be in school are presently out of school in the country. But the government is not taking the issue lying low, it has begun some programmes to woo pupils back to school. One of such programmes is the introduction of a free lunch programme in school, especially in rural areas and poor urban suburbs. The pilot scheme of the free lunch programme launched recently by President Olusegun Obasanjo is also aimed at preventing health risks among the school children.
Under the free meal initiative tagged ''Homegrown School Feeding and Health Programme'' (HGSHP), primary school pupils across the country are expected to be provided daily with at least one meal packed with highly nutritional supplement. The new programme is expected to improve the nutritional status of school children, as well as increase their enrolment, retention and completion rate in primary schools, and therefore contribute to Nigeria's Universal Basic Education Programme.
In its pilot phase, the school feeding programme will benefit 2.5 million pupils in 12 different States of the Federation. Although about 25 million children are enrolled in schools in Nigeria, another 7.3 million children are out of schools, majority of whom are girls.
According to President Obasanjo, the specific objectives of the School Feeding Programme which is in line with the strategy of achieving the second and third aspects of the Millennium Development Goals of UBE and promoting gender equality and women empowerment, are to reduce hunger among Nigerian school children and increase school enrolment and completion rates particularly among children in rural communities and poor urban neighbourhoods.
Nutrition indicators especially among children in Nigeria is very low. According a study by the Ministry of Education, a substantial number of primary school pupils in Nigeria do not eat enough to ensure proper school attendance and performance at school, while almost half of the children between seven and 15 years of age are underweight.

''Nutrition compromises the physical and mental development of the population, particularly, the children and put them at risk as exemplified by recorded morbidity and mortality rates in the country. Based on this reality, this administration considered the situation as unacceptable and decided to constitute a number of committees on Dairy Development, Citrus and Cereals Production among others to address the issue of food security,'' Chief Obasanjo said at the launching of the programme.
He commended the enthusiasm of international donor agencies for the interest in the schools feeding programme and assured that the federal government would continue to give them the encouragement to provide the much needed assistance.
UNICEF has been a major advocate for the concept of Child Friendly Schooling for all Nigerian children since 2002 and has assisted government in pioneering nearly 300 Child Friendly schools across the country. The UN organ with the Federal Ministry of Education is currently implementing a large scale programme to accelerate girls education in northern Nigeria.
''The school feeding programme will be a complementary initiative to UNICEF's current education programme, which focus on both girls education and the promotion of child-friendly schools. It will enhance the multi-sectoral approach to schooling that UNICEF is supporting,'' says Mr. Ayalew Abai, UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria.
''In areas where children are undernourished or mal-nourished, school feeding will be a welcome addition to the Child Friendly School concept,'' he said. According to Abai, there is abundant evidence to suggest that providing each child with a complete meal, that is adequate in energy, protein, vitamin and minerals, will not only help in making the children ready for effective learning, but will also stimulate increased enrolment, attendance, completion and educational achievement.
This is not the first time such a programme is being tried by government. Previous attempts at providing free meal for pupils in primary schools especially in Lagos State were unsuccessful due to inadequate planning, poor strategies and lack of resources.
The previous programme launched in May 2002 in the 20 local government areas of Lagos state was to provide a balanced diet daily for all pupils in primary one in 913 public primary schools. US$10 million dollars was budgeted for the programme in the 2001 appropriation bill of the state but the programme failed soon after launch because of poor strategies.
Explaining why the previous programme in Lagos State failed, the Chairman of the National Parents Teachers Association (NAPTAN) Chief Babs Animashaun notes: ''We have had instances of the earlier programme being abused by teachers who took away the things, and contractors who shortchanged pupils''.
Describing the new programme as good for Nigeria's educational development, Chief Animashaun said in order not to turn the project into a money spinning avenue for unscrupulous and greedy Nigerians, accredited representatives of the PTA must be involved in whatever government is going to be giving for the project, including money, nutritional supplements and the purchase and distribution of food items for the programme.
''They (parents) will serve as vigilante groups since the welfare of their children will be uppermost in their minds as parents. I believe if properly handled, monitored and given good supervision, the new project will be a success. I see the programme as the beginning of good things for our educational development,'' Animashaun said in an interview in Lagos.
Studies conducted in 2000 by the Lagos State Ministry of Education, show that 80 per cent of the population of school children especially those in public schools belong to parents of low social class who cannot adequately provide for their children's special health needs.
Nutritional supplements are currently being imported from South Africa but President Obasanjo has assured that he would support processes that would ensure the production of the food supplements locally with available local raw materials.
The pilot programme covers selected states across the country. They include Bauchi, Yobe, Sokoto, Kebbi and Nasarawa in the north and Enugu, Imo, Rivers and Cross Rivers in the Southeastern part of the country as well as Osun and Ogun in the Southwest and Abuja, the nation's capital.