From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse
The Jigawa State Government has called on the Federal Government to reintroduce the Home-Grown School Feeding Program to improve the welfare of primary school pupils and boost enrollment rates.
The Executive Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Professor Haruna Musa, made the appeal while addressing journalists on measures to tackle the challenge of out-of-school children in Jigawa State.
According to him, the administration of Governor Malam Umar Namadi has made adequate provisions for the school feeding program in the approved 2025 budget.
He explained that the Home-Grown School Feeding Program was initially a Federal Government initiative, complemented by the state government, but was discontinued due to the suspension of the Federal Government’s counterpart funding.
“The feeding of primary school pupils is a joint initiative between the Federal and State Governments, where the Federal Government provides funds for feeding pupils in Primary One to Three across all states, while the Jigawa State Government covers those in Primary Four to Six,” he stated.
“In anticipation of the program’s continuation, Governor Malam Umar Namadi has consistently allocated funds for it in all annual budgets. He made provisions in the 2024 budget and has done the same for 2025, even increasing the allocation to accommodate potential rising costs.”
Addressing a recent report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which ranked Jigawa among the states with the highest number of out-of-school children and poor foundational literacy and numeracy skills, Professor Musa acknowledged the challenge but emphasized that it is an inherited problem that has existed for decades.
“Governor Malam Umar Namadi is committed to addressing this issue. Several strategies are being implemented to improve the education sector,” he said.
As part of these measures, he noted that the state government has recruited over 5,000 qualified teachers and provided teaching and learning materials to primary and junior secondary schools.
Additionally, the state government has entered into a strategic partnership with NewGlobe, a UK-based education solutions organization, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the Jigawa Unite initiative, aimed at transforming basic education in the state.
According to UNICEF, Jigawa State has approximately 800,000 out-of-school children, with only 2% of primary school learners possessing foundational reading skills, while less than 1% demonstrate basic numeracy skills.