Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed that the Federal Government was targeting the creation of 1.14 million new jobs, as it begins the process of free feeding programme for school children.
The vice president added that the new jobs would also trickle down to 290,000 direct jobs for community caterers, 580,000 for support staff and 274,000 jobs for small farm holders in the country.
He said this yesterday, as he kicked off a strategic workshop at the Presidential Villa to enable stakeholders’ interaction.
The programme, which is part of social investment policy is aimed at boosting access to quality and affordable education, projected to cater for approximately 24 million children at the basic school level.
Osinbajo said the programme would be fully home-grown, providing at least one meal per day, per child, from locally sourced foodstuffs, under the N500 billion social investment funds provided in the 2016 budget.
Government also hopes to use the programme to attract capital investment to the tune of N980 billion,through farm inputs, equipment, agricultural financing and small holder farm development schemes.
It is also projecting that the implementation of the programme would see an increase in food production in the country, averaging 530,000 metric tonnes per annum, especially food crops like grains, including animal proteins.
The forum provided the opportunity for some state governors, notably Osun State’s Rauf Aregbesola and Kaduna State’s Nasir El-Ruafai, to showcase their achievements in the area.
Others were Oyo State governors, Abiola Ajimobi and his Bornu State counterpart Kashim Shettima.
Osinbajo told participants that the strategic framework was to set out how the federal, states and local governments are to work together to deliver the primary objectives of the programme.
He said: “The ultimate objectives are to bring ‘real change’ to the lives of 20 million children, creating a multiplier effect on local economies in communities where these schools are located by boosting agriculture, entrepreneurship and employment.
