By Cross Udo
Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has called on development partners to assist in the country’s bid to roll out climate-friendly school meal programs.
Tinubu stated this at the roundtable lunch, organised by Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation on the sideline of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Acknowledging the potential of the school feeding programme to drive up enrolment in schools as well as promote nutrition among scholars, the First Lady says the programme is under review in Nigeria.
She noted that while President Bola Tinubu has shown commitment by declaring a state of emergency on food security in the country, the launch of Young Farmers Club Nigeria and Every Home a Garden Competition promoted by her were clear indications of the priority attached to providing adequate nutritious meals to children and others in society.
She said that Nigeria, with its surging population and climatic challenges, needs all the help it can get to ensure a sustainable rollout.
According to her, “Nigeria is open to assistance in that area. It is something that I believe we really want to do so that we can have school enrolment up and then get most of the children, especially children from the North that are going through desertification and recently, flooding as witnessed in Bornu State.
“It is a hydra-headed problem that we are facing. But we are not scared, but we need all the assistance we can get, and you can believe in our administration that we are here to work for our people to get Nigeria back on its feet.”
The goal of the roundtable lunch, which also had other members of OAFLAD in attendance, was to position the school meals agenda in the African Union’s G20 engagement.
