The Federal Government has announced plans to expand the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) to reach 50 million primary school pupils by the year 2026.
Dr. Aderemi Adebowale, the National Programme Manager of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), made this known during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
According to Adebowale, the expansion will cover pupils in Primary 1 through 6, and efforts are also being made to include out-of-school children in phases.
“We are working to include early years—Primary 1 to 3, Primary 4 to 6—in the school feeding programme, and also out-of-school children, which we are handling step by step to integrate,” she said. “So, by the year 2026, we are looking at feeding close to 50 million pupils in primary school in Nigeria.”
She noted that the cost of providing meals is estimated between N500 and N1,000 per child daily. However, she added that even with N500 per child, nutritious and tasty meals could still be provided.
To manage costs, Adebowale explained that the agency is aligning efforts with small-holder farmers, aggregators, suppliers, and development partners to stabilize pricing.
“With this alignment, we’ll be able to control price from the rock bottom. We are not going to be doing market prices,” she said. “So, we have to agree on prices from our suppliers, agri-vendors, and farmers to arrive at a reasonable cost per plate. Once we do that, we will follow up on the payment and service delivery.”
The initiative builds on an earlier programme inaugurated on May 27, 2025, when the Federal Government launched the Alternate Education and Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Project. That effort aimed to provide meals for 20 million out-of-school and underserved children by 2026.
The programme was unveiled in Abuja by the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, who now serves as the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (RH-NHGSFP) is being implemented in partnership with the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education and the National Identity Management Commission.
Professor Yilwatda described the initiative as a central component of NSIPA, introduced as part of President Bola Tinubu’s second-year agenda in office.
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