The federal government has started the verification and validation of school pupils in Abia State who are presently benefiting from the national home grown school feeding program.
The verification was to be carried out in 1,030 public schools in the State while a total of 197,140 pupils submitted to the federal government by Abia State, are also to be verified and validated, according to Mrs. Florence Ngozi Chukwu Ude, the leader of the federal government verification team.
The verification exercise, which is to be conducted in all LGAs of Abia State, are to be used to verify and validate the figures of benefiting pupils to ensure that they tallied with the figures submitted to the federal government by the Abia State government.
Briefing journalists in Umuahia, Mrs. Florence Ude explained that “We are here to verify the number of pupils being fed in Abia State. We are here to verify and validate the data”.
Ude, who is from the federal ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, Abuja added that “by the time we finish this exercise, we will arrive at the actual number of people we are feeding. We are also carrying out verification and validation of the food vendors to correspond with the figures from here”.
She pointed out that over 9 million kids are presently benefiting from the national home school feeding program while 5 million more pupils are being targeted in the scheme, noting that the federal government was executing the initiative in collaboration with Abia and other States across the nation.
Ude stated that some agencies like the national youth service corps (NYSC), national orientation agency (NOA) and other concerned offices were taking part in the verification and validation exercise.
Foods were shared to primary 1-3 pupils in brand-new flasks while the pupils and food vendors were also presented with their verification certificates by the federal government team, even as the exercise continues in other parts of the State.
Program manager of the home school feeding program in Abia State, Gabriel Ahuruonye said that Abia State government was feeding nursery 1-3 and primary 4-6 pupils in the State declaring that a successful partnership was going on between the federal government and Abia State to sustain the program.
In her remarks, the Headmistress of Ahieke community primary school, Mrs. Nwachukwu Ozioma Linda credited the free feeding initiative for the sharp increase in number of pupils in her school, which she said had risen to 700, even as regularity in attendance had also been achieved
