ABIA RECEIVES N131 MILLION NAIRA TO SUPPORT SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME

As schools resumes, Abia State School Feeding Programme got a boost of an inflow of N131 million for the 1167 cooks selected for the Home grown school feeding programme to provide a balanced meal daily for pupils in public primary schools in the state.
In a release, the state Focal Person said that the sum of N131 million represents payment for 20 days to the cooks to provide meals to the pupils. Abia state qualified for the funding support from the federal government after a thorough due diligence carry out by the State’s Social Investment Office in collaboration with Office of the Wife of the Governor who had earlier in 2015 launched a statewide free school feeding initiative. The State Focal Person went further to clarify that the cooks will be credited directly with same amount every 20 days as long as schools remain in session.
He stated that the funding support is a major boost to the initiative of the Governor and his Wife Deaconess Nkechi Ikpeazu to improve the living standard of Abians particularly the children in public primary schools who are mostly from indigent homes. He reported that since inception, the programme has improved the health indices of the that age bracket in the state, improved school enrollment statistics of Abia state, increased the economy of rural women who were engaged as cooks as well as rural farmers who supply inputs to the cooks.
The release further thanked the Governor Dr Okezie Ikpeazu and his amiable wife Mrs Nkechi Ikpeazu for their unrelenting support to Social Investment programmes in the state, noting that Abia State is among the priority states in SIP nationwide. He thanked all the cooks who cooperated with the office to clean up their records that resulted in a better funding process. He urged parents whose children are in public primary schools to take full advantage of this programme and ensure their wards get basic education. The release also called on all stakeholders in all the communities to be vigilant and ensure that the children are not shortchanged. He encouraged the education secretaries and the various monitoring committees to continue their laudable support to ensure a hitch free implementation of the programme. Assuring the State that under Governor Okezie Ikpeazu the state will attract all the benefits due Abia State.
Chinenye Nwaogu
State Focal Person
Social Investment