The Lagos State Government on Wednesday said that it fed 11,965 pupils in primary schools across the state in the last 12 months.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Civic Engagement, Princess Aderemi Adebowale, disclosed this during the 2020 Ministerial Press Briefing in commemoration of the first year of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration in office.
Adebowale said the the pupils, drawn from Primary Class 4 to Primary Class 6 were fed under the ‘Snacks for Thought’ pilot scheme of the state government.
She said that the scheme was meant for pupils at the crèche and Primary Class 4 to Primary Class 6.
The Special Adviser added that it was meant to complement the Home Grown School Feeding Programme of the Federal Government which covered only pupils in Primary Class 1 to Primary Class 3.
According to Adebowale, the ”Snacks for Thought” initiative was to ensure that all pupils in Lagos State partook in the school feeding programme.
”It is instructive to state that the pilot scheme was held in Lagos Island Local Government Area, where 33 public primary schools participated in the school feeding exercise,” she said.
Adebowale said that the importance of the initiative could not be over-emphasied as the nutritious snacks and juice were to energize pupils for memory retention of lessons learnt.
The Special Adviser also said that the snacks and juice were to improve school attendance and academic performance and serve as an incentive for higher enrolment and retention of pupils in public schools.
Adebowale said that in line with the resolve of Gov. Sanwo-Olu’s administration to ensure safety of students of tertiary institutions, the Office of Civic Engagement organized a sensitization programme on the menace of social vices in tertiary institutions.
According to her, this was with a view to creating awareness on the social and economic costs of engaging in cultism, drug abuse, sexual harassment and examination malpractices.
Adebowale said that such vices were impediments on students’ academic performance, constituted loss of valuable time as a result of school closure, and untimely deaths and disruption of social and economic activities in host communities.
She said that her office would continue to work hard to ensure peaceful co-existence among people, through meaningful engagement and amicable resolution of issues that could lead to breakdown of law and order in the state.
