ABUJA, Nigeria – The Federal Government has unveiled plans to scale up the Homegrown School Feeding Programme to reach at least 20 million children nationwide by 2026.
Vice President, Kashim Shettima disclosed this on Friday at the National Policy Forum on the Institutionalisation and Implementation of the Renewed Hope School Feeding Programme in Abuja.
Represented by the President’s Special Adviser on Economic Affairs, Dr Kolade Fasua, Shettima described the expansion as the boldest in the programme’s history.
He said the initiative, relaunched under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is designed to boost school enrolment, improve nutrition, and support smallholder farmers, women entrepreneurs, and local food processors.
Shettima stressed that integrating the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) system would ensure transparency, “so that real pupils receive real meals, and every naira spent works twice—once for the child, and once for the local economy.”
While admitting that sustaining nationwide coverage could cost as much as N1 trillion, he argued the project is an investment in nation-building rather than a financial burden.
The government also inaugurated the Alternative Education and Renewed Hope Feeding Project, targeting out-of-school and highly vulnerable children.
Shettima added: “A child with knowledge is less vulnerable to exploitation. A farmer linked to a market is less vulnerable to despair. Communities where youth are engaged are less vulnerable to insecurity.”
