FG TRAINS COOKS FOR NATIONAL HOME-GROWN FEEDING, DISTRIBUTES FOOD UTENSILS FOR EBONYI SCHOOLS
REPORTER: AMECHI ODO
Some cooks recruited for the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme in Ebonyi State have called on the Federal Government to increase the amount of money they are paid for the programme, considering the present economic realities.
They made their feelings known during the handover of 25,000 feeding utensils procured by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development for onward distribution to the public primary schools in Abakaliki.
Apart from the cooks, school children, who were the direct beneficiaries of the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, were not left out as they converged on Azuiyiokwu Primary School Abakaliki to witness the handover ceremony.
Two of the cooks, Miss Chinenye Nwibo and Mrs. Rosemary Obodo, described the feeding programme as a well thought out policy considering its impact in the educational development and health of the school children.
They noted that the utensils would ensure that a high level of hygiene was maintained while dishing out meals to the children but called on the government to also address the issue of funding, which they described as inadequate.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, represented by her Special Assistant on Administration, Mr. Kingsley Ngene, noted that the cooking utensils were part of the Ministry’s intervention and operational review to address teething challenges and scale up the number of beneficiaries with additional five million school children as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Commissioner for Human Capital Development in the state, Mrs. Ann Aligwe had while taking delivery of the utensils on behalf of the state government, explained that the feeding programme had reduced the number of out of school children in the area and commended the Ministry for ensuring proper monitoring of programme implementation.
Radio Nigeria observed that the Minster’s representative later participated in the documentation and training of some of the Cooks selected from the thirteen Local Government Areas of the State on modern cooking methods and hygiene.
