Buhari’s School Feeding :7.3m Eggs ,767 Cows Consumed Weekly,Says Osinbajo

Buhari’s School Feeding: 7.3m Eggs, 767 Cows Consumed Weekly, Says Osinbajo

Ado-Ekiti – The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN, has hinted that no fewer than 7.3 million eggs and 767 were being killed on a weekly basis under the School Feeding Programme of the President Muhammadu Buhari led-administration.

He also disclosed that 9.3 million pupils in over 56,506 primary schools across this country are captured in the programme while about 190, 00 farmers are supplying food items.

Speaking in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday during the official launching of the School Feeding Programme at St. Michael’s Primary School Osinbajo said the programme apart from shoring up school enrollments, had helped in job creation and poverty reduction among Nigerians.

Osinbajo, who praised Governor Kayode Fayemi for keying into the programme, said:

“The aim of this government is to provide food to our students to make them focused in schools and solve the problem of malnutrition in our children.

“When a child suffered malnutrition in school, the diseases associated with it may cause a serious challenge to our pupils and that is why we are taking care of their health for them to be more regular in schools.

“The federal government has decided to introduce this programme to turnaround the agriculture sector by patronising the products of our farmers, who will sell their products in all the schools in their areas.

“Governor Fayemi’s support for the policy shows the importance of the programme and it will help in fighting poverty in this state.”

Osinbajo stated that the policy has also helped in improving the capacities of some people, especially the vendors to be able to feed their families.

“Some asked how many jobs will this create?

The benefits are unimaginable. But we assure that we are going to increase the scope of all our social investment programmes, including TraderMoni in the Next Level.”

Governor Fayemi, who described the policy as very significant in the lives of the people, commended the FG for the initiative.

He said the programme was an initiative of President Buhari but was being anchored through the office of the Vice President.

Fayemi stressed that the state places a high premium on the policy because it pays attention to our vulnerable population.

“Before we left, we had a social security scheme where we used to give N5,000 for 25,000 vulnerable elders. We had the Ekiti state youth volunteer corps, where 10,000 youths got N10,000 monthly. We have introduced free education at both primary and secondary schools, among others.

“Unfortunately, these programmes cease to exist throughout the four years of that interregnum and it affected the state significantly. When we came back, students were paying school fees when we ran free education during our time. Our education rating declined even where we were coming first and we became the last in the southwest.

“That is why we are happy that this policy is kicking off in Ekiti. Equally, we decided to key into the programme because it was a fulfilment of the APC government and many others will come.”

Fayemi disclosed that 2000 vendors had already employed to supply food in the 905 primary schools while 75,000 pupils in primary one to three are to benefit.

“Our country Nigeria can’t be allowed to slide into the wrong hands and that was why the people decided to vote President Buhari. It is clear that Nigerians supported our ideology band the outcome of the recent elections confirmed this.

“Ekiti people also showed where they belong.

This is not stomach infrastructure, but our children will be remembering this for life.

“These young children are the leaders of tomorrow. We express our appreciation to President Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo for bringing this programme to Ekiti.”