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Osun State Leads the Way for HGSF

Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 June 2014 16:16

Knowledge, they say, is power. But in Osun State, under the leadership of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, power seems to have changed hand. In the past, to gain knowledge, any knowledge, you would have needed to travel to the Whiteman’s country or land, across the seas, to practically beg him to share some of his knowledge with you.

But today, Aregbesola, has succeeded in changing the order of things with his O’MEALS (where O is for Osun) school feeding project or programme. The result is that, on account of his experience/knowledge, today, he is being invited here and there, to lecture those of us, Blacks and Whites, who find his achievement with it, something out of this world.

Read more: Osun State Leads the Way for HGSF

Federal Government of Nigeria to Re-Introduce School Feeding Programme

The supervising Minister of Education, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has said that the federal government is considering the re-introduction of the HGSF and health programme as a component of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme to boost enrolment and retention in public schools across the country.

The supervising minister disclosed this recently at the opening ceremony of the 12th quarterly meeting of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) management with the executive chairmen of State Universal Basic Education Commission (SUBEB) held in Owerri, Imo State.

Read more: Federal Government of Nigeria to Re-Introduce School Feeding Programme

Nigeria's School Feeding is Coming Home

In 2004, with the backing of the African Union and World Food Programme, Nigeria was part of the first wave of countries to implement a new and innovative Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme pilot.

Employing the legislation of the Universal Basic Education Act the Federal Government rolled out a pilot scheme in 13 of the country states to implement school feeding programmes which supported agricultural development by procuring and using locally grown food. Jump forward 10 years and only two states, Osun and Kano, are still feeding their school children.

During this decade, the Osun State HGSF programme, known locally as O-Meals, has gone from strength to strength, serving up over 250,000 hot, nutritious and locally sourced meals every school day. The positive impact of this has been felt not only in the schools where enrolments have gone up by 28%, but also by the state's economy which has benefited from over 3,000 new jobs being created in the school feeding supply chain and over 600 poultry farmers, 2,000 fish farmers and 2,000 cocoyam farmers among others supplying the programme.

Read more: Nigeria's School Feeding is Coming Home

H.E. Rauf Aregbesola to Address UK Parliamentarians on HGSF in Nigeria

Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 14:46

School feeding’s role in supporting agricultural development and educational achievement is to be the central topic of an address by H.E. Ogbeni Rauf Argebesola, Govenor of Osun State, Nigeria, leading experts and British parliamentarians at a special event in the UK’s House of Commons on Wednesday 22nd January.

The Governor has been invited by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agriculture and Food for Development and the Partnership for Child Development (PCD) Imperial College London, to speak at a meeting attended by development experts focusing on the evolution and improvement of government-led Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programmes in low and middle income countries which feed school children using food grown locally by smallholder farmers.

Read more: H.E. Rauf Aregbesola to Address UK Parliamentarians on HGSF in Nigeria