School Feeding: Delta begins biometric data to capture additional 98,000 pupils
The Delta Government says it has commenced biometric data capturing of additional 98,000 pupils into the ongoing National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in the state.
The State Commissioner for Humanitarian and Community Support Services, Dr Darlington Ijeh, disclosed this on Tuesday in Asaba at a two-day meeting on the updates and guidelines for cooks of NHGSFP in the state.
Ijeh said that after an appeal, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, released an additional 49,000 forms to capture more pupils in addition to the earlier 49,000 forms released to the state.
284,456 pupils are currently benefiting from the programme in the state.
Ijeh urged the cooks to ensure that all eligible pupils in the state were captured without arbitrarily short-changing the pupils and the state in general.
He appealed to them to shun the habit of cutting corners and discharge their duties with the fear of God and service to humanity by following the stipulated guidelines.
“If you decide to connive with the headmaster/headmistress by saying that you have cooked and fed our children when in actual fact you have not done that, I will certainly fish you out and your name will be yanked off the payroll.
Read Also: Nigerian Army To Retire 11 Major Generals Wednesday
“The secretaries and NGOs are our eyes and cannot afford to fail the people of the state by not reporting any behaviour that falls short of the required standard, because they know what awaits them if they are found wanting,” he said.
The Commissioner disclosed that the Federal Government has implemented the upward review of N70 per plate of a meal per child to N100.
Ijeh also said that the social well-being of the people of the state was a top priority to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and most especially that of our children.
“I am filled with joy that you no longer complain and that gladdens my heart that all of you now smile.
“And I almost shed tears when I received calls of some mothers like you, some fathers like you complaining of being short paid, your kids being short changed, some forms not being complete, pupils not being captured in various schools.
“It gives me great concern, but we are not here to apportion blame. But what we are doing is the right thing,” he said.
Ijeh commended Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa for his visions and commitment to the state in delivering and keeping to his campaign promises to the people of the state.
The Commissioner noted that without the enablement and a coordinated synergy on implementation from the state governor, the programme would have been a mirage in the state.
“All these are being done by the State Governor, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, and I am only being used by him and he is being used by God and that is why we are able to achieve ll these within few months I have been in office,” he added.
He noted that the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, one of the four components of the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP), was a Federal Government programme.
The meeting attracted local government secretaries and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) as well as cooks under the programme from Delta North Senatorial District.
