FG’s ‘Take Home Rations’ distribution to school children kicks off in Ogun

The Take Home Rations (THRs) programme of the Federal Government has been flagged off in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, to support children with nutritious foods, despite the disruption in the School Feeding Programme, occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the flag-off ceremony, the State Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Mr Femi Ogunbanwo said the State had gone round to verify and identify households that the pupils live, saying, a voucher system would be used for easy distribution of the THRs.

Ogunbanwo noted that the programme was a collaboration between the Federal and State governments, explaining that the Ministry, apart from giving food to beneficiaries had also incorporated rapid sensitization into all phases of the distributions, so that the targeted children were equipped with knowledge needed to stay safe and healthy.

He added that some personnel, including monitoring teams have been setup to successfully manage implementation of the innovation, towards ensuring that targeted children are reached.

The Special Adviser to the President on Humanitarian Affairs, Mrs. Titi Adeyemi-Doro, stated that the initiative was part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s directives to reach the pupils within their households during the lockdown, soliciting continuous cooperation and understanding of all stakeholders, for successful coverage of intended beneficiaries.

“All those households must have a child already benefiting from the existing National Homegrown School Feeding Programme and the pupils’ name must be in the school register, the pupil will be identified by the teacher and the parents will be identified by the School Based Management Committee (SBMC) and the community”, she said.

She revealed that each ration is made up of 5kg Bag of rice, 5kg Bag of beans, Vegetable oil, Palm-oil, salt, half crate of egg and tomato paste.