By Gami Tadanyigbe
The Federal Government and Nutrition Society of Nigeria (NSN) in Abuja has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for improved nutrition in the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Mr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, said the MoU was an ingredient geard towards enhancing the programme to succeed.
According to Sani-Gwarzo, the commitment of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari towards enhancing food and nutrition security in households and communities all over the country is truly remarkable.
He added that, that was one of the strong reasons behind the implementation and sustenance of the NHGSFP.
“Signing this MOU with the NSN is another giant stride in strengthening the implementation, monitoring and evaluation mechanism of the NHGSFP.
“No doubt that the NSN is an unimpeachable organisation with immense capacity. The various activities of the society have contributed greatly to the wellbeing of millions of Nigerians.
“Partners such as the NSN are required to provide support to the nutrition thematic areas in the, programme; effectively actualising the objective of eliminating malnutrition in school age children.
“This will no doubt improve the childrens’ health status, educational performance and completion.
“Thus, this partnership is of great significance to us because of the potential benefit it will provide to our beneficiaries,” Sani-Gwarzo said.
The permanent secretary explained that the MoU came as one of the recommendations from the 3rd Annual Review of the NHGSFP held in January 2020, where it was unanimously agreed that NHGSFP required strong partners.
“The reason is to facilitate an improved programme design and implementation for cascading communications, as well as attainment of programme objectives in line with national frameworks and international best practices.
“Both the Ministry and NSN have commenced work on developing Nutrition Guidelines for meals on the NHGSFP. This we believe will strengthen the attainment of the nutrition goals inherent in the programme.
“As the partnership progresses, I believe that we will identify more areas of collaboration, specifically around monitoring nutrition outcomes and building capacity for the benefit of all our persons of concern.
“However, we will continue to seek out partnerships in effective areas that will support us in actualising our goal of a food and nutrition secure nation,” Sani-Gwarzo said.
Afolabi had earlier said the society was delighted to come and sign the MoU, adding that it is a document that has come a long way.
“We commend the effort of the Minister, the Permanent Secretary and Directors in the ministry to want to bring quality into the delivery of the NHGSFP.
“This is because, not in other time have we had this symbolic opportunity and uniqueness to bring in professionals who can add value to the work that government is doing.
“We are indeed very delighted; we have had opportunity of reviewing the documents, the operational strategies and this event is the peak to ensure that the programme deliver quality nutrition to Nigerian children across the federation,” said the NSN president.
(NAN)
