The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) is set to kick-start the distribution of food palliatives to primary school pupils at home.
The Chairman of LASUBEB, Hon. Wahab Alawiye-King disclosed this on Thursday, 14 May, 2020, when he visited the warehouse where the food palliatives were kept in Ikeja.
Hon. Alawiye-king disclosed that the food palliative measure is part of the presidential directive that the Home Grown School Feeding Programme must continue in spite of schools’ closure.
He noted that the government agencies have been working relentlessly for the past weeks to ensure that the directive is carried out hence the reason for the monitoring of the exercise.
The programme, under the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development; Home Grown School Feeding Programme is in collaboration with the Lagos State Government through the Universal Basic Education Board and all stakeholders in the basic education sub sector.
Allaying the fears that the programme might be sabotaged, the Executive Chairman noted that the beneficiaries have been identified and verified.
According to him, “We need to understand that the School fFeeding Programme has been running before now, it is targeted at primary 1-3 pupils in public primary schools. We have gone around using our school vendors and school management board based on available data to identify and verify the households that will benefit from the programme”.
Alawiye-King also stated that transparency will be strictly adhered to as international and local organisations are part of the monitoring group to ensure that the food palliatives get to the right households.
The LASUBEB Chairman stated that over 37,589 households are being targeted for the pilot scheme with 202 centers already designated for the distributions.
The food items to be distributed according to Hon. Alawiye-King l are: 5kg of rice and beans each, 2 rolls of sachet tomato paste, 500ml of palm and groundnut oil, salt and 12 pieces of eggs.
The Special Adviser to the President on National Home Grown School Feeding (NHGSF), Mrs. Titilola Adeyemi-Doro noted that the Federal Government is basically coordinating the process while the State Government is to take ownership of the Program because they know how best to reach the students.
She also stated that the collaboration is with all Stakeholders in the education sector with Lagos SUBEB taking the lead.
Mrs Folusho Ajimoti, Board Secretary of LASUBEB, stated that the board has been going through series of meetings to ensure efficient distribution of the food Palliative.
She noted that vouchers will be distributed to the various households that has been identified for efficient distribution.
She also emphasized that board members alongside Education Secretaries of each local government as well as food vendors will form part of the distribution team with relevant stakeholders serving as monitoring team.