FG inaugurates feeding programme for 20m out-of-school children, others

The federal government has inaugurated the Alternate Education and Renewed Hope National Home Grown School Feeding Project to expand the scope of feeding by reaching 20 million out-of-school and informal children in 2026.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, spoke about the plan during the launching of the programme on Tuesday in Abuja.

Yilwatda said the programme was implemented by the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (RH-NHGSFP), in collaboration with the National Commission for Almajiri and Out of School Children Education and the National Identity Management Commission.

The minister said the project was one of the flagship initiatives of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) in commemoration of President Bola Tinubu’s second-year anniversary, noting that the objective was to build a national framework for reintegrating out-of-school children into safe, structured, and nourishing learning environments.

Speaking earlier, the National Programme Manager of the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (RH-NHGSFP), Princess (Dr) Aderemi Adebowale, said the programme underscores a renewed national resolve to reach Nigeria’s out-of-school children – those living in border communities, informal settlements, nomadic groups, and IDP camps – through an inclusive, community-led model of education that integrates identity management, feeding, and foundational learning.

Adebowale said RH-NHGSFP, which currently provides daily school meals to over 10.2 million pupils in Primary 1-3 across the 774 local government areas, is proud to expand its scope under this initiative, with a target of reaching 20 million pupils by 2026.

She said that the programme integrated children living in border communities and informal camps through an inclusive, community-led model of management, feeding, and foundational learning.

“This historic event is being held in commemoration of two significant milestones. the second-year anniversary in office of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose leadership has championed social protection, inclusive education, and poverty reduction across Nigeria,” she said.

Adebowale said that RH-NHGSFP was in charge of the tripartite feeding project being executed while the Almajiri commission was responsible for teaching, and NIMC would do the verification.

Also speaking, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of the NSIPA, Dr Badamasi Lawal, said the project, which began as a school-based nutrition intervention, has matured into a policy instrument for inclusion, human capital growth, and socio-economic resilience.

He noted that the programme was designed to reduce the out-of-school children in Nigeria, improve enrolment and help transition from one level of primary education to another and to secondary school.

Also speaking, the Technical Advisor to the President on Economic and Financial Inclusion in the Office of the Vice President, Dr Nurudeen Zauro, said one of the president’s mandates is inclusiveness, and it is going all out to achieve that.

He said Tinubu’s administration is committed to economic and financial inclusion, and the feeding project is about financial and economic inclusion, a project aligned with his renewed hope agenda.