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The Federal Government has unveiled plans to significantly expand the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) to cover 50 million primary school pupils by 2026.
This was announced in Abuja by Aderemi Adebowale, National Programme Manager at the National Social Investment Programme Agency, during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
Adebowale explained that the programme aims to provide meals to children in Primary 1–6 and to gradually incorporate out-of-school children. “Our target is to feed nearly 50 million pupils by 2026,” she said.
She stated that the cost per child could range from ₦500 to ₦1,000 daily and that even at the lower rate, it is possible to deliver nutritious, appealing meals every school day.
To control costs, the agency works with networks of smallholder farmers, vendors and development partners to agree on supply prices, monitor payments and track service delivery.
The Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme was relaunched on 29 May to scale up the initiative.
Although the programme was designed to improve child nutrition, encourage school enrolment and support local agriculture, it has previously been undermined by mismanagement and corruption.
During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) reported that ₦2.67 billion allocated for school feeding in federal colleges had been diverted into private accounts despite schools being closed.
In October 2022, the Nasarawa State government uncovered 349 non-existent schools listed as participants in the feeding scheme. Vendors have also been accused of collecting payments without supplying food.
Other recurring issues include poor meal quality, insufficient portions, delayed vendor payments, inflated enrolment figures, and procurement processes lacking transparency, which critics say allowed politically connected contractors to benefit while undermining the programme’s goals.
