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School Feeding: Borno to increase pupil enrollment by 600,000

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By Gistflash News

Sept 3, 2021

The Federal Government has granted Borno Government request to increase the number of pupils benefiting from the school feeding programme from 109,022 to 600,000.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, made this known Friday in Maiduguri during a high level meeting with officials of the state government on strengthening the implementation of the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in the state.

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“The school feeding programme for which we have gathered today, provides one free meal to over nine million pupils in primary schools across the Nation.

“In Borno State, we are providing funds to the State selected vendors and aggregators to feed – 109,022 pupils, 1554 cooks in 473 schools. In that value chain alone hundreds of jobs are created every day and people are earning.

“We have directives from Mr President to add five million more pupils into the school feeding programme. Borno State NSIP has proactively sent in a request to increase the population of pupils on the programme to 600,000.

“This is a progress and once we conclude our ongoing verification exercise here in Borno State, we will be able to update our records.

“We at the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development are fully committed to the great cause of Mr President to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. Borno State is important to us because there are so many people here who need help.

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“This is why we are also today seeking to inform you of these great things that are happening in the nation and in Borno State. This platform is also for us to seek your further support on strengthening the implementation of the National Home-Grown School Feeding Program,” Farouq said.

She noted that under the programme, the federal government and the state governments have a shared responsibility and specific roles on the provision of these free meals to the children.

She explained that while federal government provided the funds and the guidelines needed to drive the programme, the state government is responsible for the implementation.

Farouq therefore urged Borno government to consider deploying additional support in order to ensure that the school feeding programme delivers on its objectives in the best possible ways.

“We advocate building the capacity and providing adequate budgetary support to the Borno state school feeding programme and the whole of the National Social Investment Programme.

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“Facilitate Continuous sensitisation of communities and individuals through the various structures on the importance of the programme and the need for it to be safeguarded from all forms of corrupt practices by those who have been entrusted to prepare the meals, supply the food items, and even coordinate the activities.

“Provide adequate resources to ensure proper monitoring of the activities of the various actors engaged by the state to ensure full compliance of guidelines and responsibilities,” Farouq said.

Responding, the Deputy Governor of Borno, Alhaji Umar Kadafur, lauded the various federal government intervention programmes in the aimed to empower the populace and assured the state government commitment to key in and do what is expected of it for the programmes to record maximum success.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Focal Person for the programme in Borno, Hajiya Aisha Waziri, said the school-feeding programme is experiencing some challenges particularly in the areas of data capture of pupils involved, logistics and shortage of cooks to meet the increasing number of pupils involved.

“There is also the need to increase the cost of feeding each pupil from the present N70 per meal to N100 or more in view of the current realities.

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“The present prize of N70 was fixed five years ago,” Waziri said.

NAN

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Education

SMEDAN introduces Entrepreneurship as a subject to primary, secondary schools

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By Gistflash News

Sept 22, 2021

The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) began a capacity building workshop on entrepreneurship for primary and secondary schools teachers in Bayelsa on Wednesday.

Its South-South Coordinator, Mr Egbuna Iloba, said the agency was introducing  entrepreneurship to primary and secondary schools across Nigeria under the National Schools Entrepreneurship Programme known as “Mind Shift’’.

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He represented SMEDAN’s Director-General, Dr Dikko Radda, at the opening of the workshop.

Iloba said that the agency was collaborating with states’ Ministries of Education to prepare teachers to teach entrepreneurship as a subject.

He said inculcating entrepreneurship into schools curricula from the basic level was fundamental to redirecting the mind set of school leavers and graduates from being job seekers to entrepreneurs.

This would enable them to seize available opportunities to solve problems and create jobs, he added.

“Children are expected to unleash their innate wealth-creating potentialities by exploiting opportunities that abound in their respective communities as well as engage themselves in productive economic endeavours while in elementary school.

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“What we are doing at this stage is to enhance the capacity of teachers who will in turn prepare pupils and students and convert them into entrepreneurs.

“In addition, after the training, schools are expected to create entrepreneurship clubs and schools enterprises.

“The clubs will compete for laurels at the regional and national levels where cash prizes will be given to the best three schools that will represent the country at global youth entrepreneurship events outside the country in 2022,’’ Iloba said.

In his remarks, Director in charge of Secondary Education in Bayelsa, Rev. Jacob Osusu, urged teachers to take advantage of the opportunity to pioneer the programme and lay a solid foundation for youths.

He represented Mr Gentle Emela, Bayelsa’s Commissioner for Education at the occasion.

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Osusu also urged teachers to look beyond the immediate benefit of the workshop to embrace entrepreneurship and propagate same to their pupils and students.

He noted that the benefits of the training were life-long and would also prepare them for retirement life after the classroom.

Mr Tiamiu Ibrahim, a SMEDAN resource person at the workshop explained that the curriculum had 12 modules and was developed by the agency and the state’s Ministry of Education which is expected to take the programme to all schools in the state.

Mrs Lilian Kakiri, a participant and Head Teacher at Ebisam Group of Schools, Yenagoa, applauded the policy for involving private and public schools and hoped that it would contribute to tackling youth unemployment.

Also Mr David Singabelle, a teacher at Government Model School, Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa said the programme was long overdue and would lay a foundation for refocusing the school system beyond issuing certificates.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that100 teachers drawn from private and public schools in the eight local government areas of Bayelsa are participating in the three-day workshop.

NAN

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Education

Zulum wields big stick, suspends Ramat Poly Rector, others

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By Gistflash News

Sept 21, 2021

Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno has suspended the Rector of Ramat Polytechnic, Dr Modu Kyari and other management staff of the institution.

Zulum wielded the big stick when he paid a surprise visit to the institution on Tuesday in Maiduguri.

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He expressed disappointment with the condition of things in the polytechnic, where he served as  rector from 2011 to 2015.

“As far as I am concerned, this polytechnic is dead, nothing is working.

“The workshops are not in existence, the mechanical workshop is not working, the agricultural workshop is not working, likewise the entrepreneurship centre is not working.

“The school is facing myriads of problems, ranging from lack of funding and commitment.

“As a former student and rector of this polytechnic, I have moral stakes in it and will not allow this institution to rot during my era as Governor of Borno State,” Zulum vowed.

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He directed the Commissioner of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Babagana Mallumbe to take over the affairs of the institution for the next six months.

The governor also directed the ministry to put all the workshops and laboratories in the polytechnic back to proper use, as soon as possible.

Zulum further ordered the Ministry of Water Resources to drill two deep boreholes and carry out reticulation of the water to address the dearth of potable water in the institution, to prevent spread of waterborne diseases.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor later addressed students of the polytechnic, where he assured that the payment of their scholarship grant would commence soon.

NAN

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Education

Dettol to introduce hygiene education curriculum in Lagos schools

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By Gistflash News

Sept 20, 2021

Dettol Nigeria says it will be introducing hygiene education curriculum in Lagos schools to encourage good hygiene among students and their families.

The General Manager, Reckitt Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr Akbar Ali Shah, made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

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He said that the initiative was part of the 2021 Dettol School Hygiene Education Programme, a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 initiative under the Dettol Clean Naija campaign.

Shah said that the campaign was aimed at creating awareness, educating and encouraging primary school students to inculcate hygienic practices in their daily lives.

He said that the Dettol School Hygiene stakeholders’ workshop was held last Thursday to intimate the Lagos State education sector on the 2021 programme vision and implementation.

According to him, the 2021 edition will feature the specially developed Hygiene Curriculum created by the Dettol international team, consisting of comics and worksheets that aims to convey the hygiene message to pupils in a fun and engaging manner.

The general manager said that the programme would also involve impact assessment, using scientific measurement tools to determine the impact of its hygiene education on the students, their teachers and parents.

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He said that Dettol had partnered with the Lagos State office on SDGs, Dean Initiative, World’s Largest Lesson, and Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN) to help drive the programme implementation and adoption.

“With Dettol, our purpose is to protect life by making good hygiene simple to adopt. Since 2015, we have directly reached over five million primary school children in Nigeria with our hygiene education.

“However, with the need for an intensified hygiene consciousness due to COVID-19, we are evolving from a model where we had just a one-off contact with the students, to one where there would be repeated interactions based on lessons from the hygiene vurriculum.

“Our aim is to emphasise on the need to enable a sanitised environment and to create the importance of water, hygiene and sanitation in preventing the spread of infections amongst children,’’ he said.

Shah commended its partnership with the Lagos State Office on the SDGs, Dean Initiative, World’s Largest Lesson and SRHIN.

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Mr Lekan Fatodu, Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on SDG, commended Dettol Nigeria for its efforts to ensure the overall well-being of pupils.

He urged stakeholders and school executives to help ensure the success of the Dettol initiative.

The Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr Wahab Alawiye-King, said that the state government would collaborate with Dettol Nigeria to ensure workability of the hygiene curriculum.

Alawiye-King said that the Dettol School Hygiene Education Programme would tackle the challenge of making the schools Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)-friendly.

NAN

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