The Niger State government is set to kick-off the school feeding programme for primary pupils in the state.
Governor of the state, Abubakar Bello, issued a directive to this effect when he hosted a team of education experts from Cambridge University, United Kingdom and MRL Public Sector Consultants to discuss a new education initiative by the state government called “Transforming Education in Niger State, TENS”.
The governor directed the State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to carry out a pilot scheme of the school feeding programme with a view to fully implementing the project in all primary schools in the state.
“We benefited from such schemes when we were young. Ministry of Education, Science and Technology should embark on a pilot scheme to enable us capture all schools in the state,” the governor directed.
Governor Bello said the TENS initiative is aimed at transforming the education sector in the state and raising it to global standards, rather than continue to lament the decay in the sector.
He pointed that he was aware of some of the challenges concerning the sector in the state and expressed his readiness to restore education standard in the state and lay solid foundation for it to attain global standard.
“…we are committed to seeing the sector restored. We strongly believe we can correct these lapses we met because this is the beginning of a new page in the sector,” Bello assured.
Leader of the Cambridge University delegation, Colleen Mclauglin, commended the school feeding initiative, stressing that it would improve the learning capabilities of the pupils.