By Balarabe Abdullahi Kiru
The Kano State Government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting social development initiatives and the education sector.
The State Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf gave the assurance today Tuesday while flagging-off a pilot scheme program on school feeding tagged ‘Snacks for Thought’ under the Federal Government’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Program held at Nasarawa Primary School.
The Governor, represented by the State Commissioner Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Adamu Aliyu Kibiya noted with appreciation that Kano had been in record as the pace-setter of many programs including school feeding introduced during the former Governor Dr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso.
” This legacy left by our leader aligns strongly with commitment of this administration to education, youth development and social welfare under the human capital development which stands as pillars of our policy trust agenda.
” I want to reassured the commitment this administration to education, youth development, and social welfare, with a focus on human capital development ” said the Governor.
He further expressed the administration readiness to work with stakeholders to ensure transparency, accountability, and sustainability of the initiative.
Governor Yusuf said the program is going to be expanded to more schools once impact assessment confirmed measurable benefits in the pupils engagement.
He thanked the federal government for selecting Kano as one of pilot beneficiaries of the innovative complementary feeding program, acknowledging the support of the development partners, private sectors and community stakeholders in actualizing the program.
In his remarks, the State Commissioner of Education Dr. Ali Haruna Makoda represented by the Director Planning, Research and Statistics Yusha’u Hamza described the program as a good step towards improving access to quality education and pupil retention.
“By providing nutritious snacks to pupils, we are not just filling their stomachs for motivation, but we are also fueling learning and hope for the future of our children.
“The ministry remains deeply committed to every effort that improves access to quality education, and pupils retention in school.
“This is the Reasons why his Excellency declared state of emergency in education, developed the Kano education emergency recovery plan along sides its mutual accountability frameworks to salvage the sector ” Makoda disclosed.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction Yakubu Adam Kofar Mata stressed that the pilot scheme school feeding is among the intervention programmes introduced by the federal government to promote child education.
He appreciated the support given by the administration of Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf towards the successful implementation of the program, revealing that more of these programmes are on the pipeline to improve primary education nationwide.
Earlier, the program manager National Home Grown School Feeding Program Princess Dr. Aderemi Adebowale explained that the pilot scheme ‘Snacks for Thought’ program would cover some selected public primary schools in Kano.
According to her, as the program continues, no public schools would be left behind as the federal government is committed to ensuring that children are motivated with hygienic food during school hours.
During the flag-off, stakeholders have expressed their total support towards the successful implementation of the pilot scheme school feeding program in Kano.
The program aligns with the state’s efforts to improve education and address social development challenges.