The Abia State government has flagged off a free schools lunch programme in all public primary schools.
In a bid to provide school pupils free meal daily in all public primary schools, Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikepazu, has kicked off a free primary schools lunch programme.
According to the state government, the programme would help “meet the basic nutritional needs of children and expand the opportunity to reach their full potential and significantly enhance the academic performance of the children.”
It was revealed that the programme is to feed a total number of 136, 258 pupils, who will consume 408,774 fresh eggs, 51,09,670 grammes of ofada rice and 68,120,000 grammes of beans, every week.
During the flag-off of the first phase of the programme at Ntigha primary school in Isiala Ngwa North council over the weekend, Governor Ikpeazu said the initiative was borne out of a genuine desire to invest in children who are the future leaders.
He said that he understood what it meant to go to school on an empty stomach as well as the pains some parents went through to provide meals for their children, saying that under the scheme, every pupil in Abia was sure of at least one meal a day.
The governor lamented tons of food that end up in the dust bin on daily basis by the affluent while some children go hungry due to lack and stressed the need to bridge the gap. He pledged to sustain the programme.