The Federal Government has announced plans to expand the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) to reach 50 million primary school pupils across Nigeria by the year 2026.
Dr Aderemi Adebowale, National Programme Manager of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), disclosed this during an interview in Abuja. She explained that the expansion would include more classes and out-of-school children.
“We are working to include early years, primary 1 to 3, primary 4 to 6, in the school feeding programme, and also out of school children, which we are handling step by step to integrate. So, by the year 2026, we are looking at feeding close to 50 million pupils in primary school in Nigeria,” she said.
Adebowale stressed that the programme was designed to remain affordable while still providing value.
“Ideally, school feeding should be between N500 to N1,000 per child. Even at N500 per child, you should be able to still give the children a nutritious and delicious meal on a daily basis,” she added.
She noted that the agency was controlling costs by aligning with small-holder farmers, aggregators, supply chains, and development partners. “With this alignment, we’ll be able to control price from the rock bottom.
We are not going to be doing market prices. So, we have to agree on prices from our suppliers, agri-vendor and farmers to arrive at a reasonable cost per plate. Once we do that, we will follow-up on the payment and service delivery,” she explained.
On May 27, 2025, the Federal Government inaugurated the Alternate Education and Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Project, which aims to provide meals for 20 million out-of-school and underserved children by 2026.
The project was launched in Abuja by the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda.
Yilwatda, who now serves as the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Party, had described the initiative as one of the key components of NSIPA.
The programme, rolled out under the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (RH-NHGSFP), is in partnership with the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education and the National Identity Management Commission.