Nigeria’s Delta State to capture biometrics of 98K pupils as school meal program resumes

After a three-year hiatus, Nigeria’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) is resuming in Delta State, with the capture of the biometrics of around 98,000 pupils in primary grades one to three, reports Business Day.

As in previous biometric captures, HID Global fingerprint scanners are expected to be used for the process, which also involves taking facial photos.

The breakthrough was in conditions and finding funds to pay for the catering, rather than technology. The article cites the state commissioner for humanitarian and community support services, Darlington Ijeh, saying that a recent meeting with caterers led to the restart thanks to the commitment of the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.

The meeting with the caterers informed them of the new operational modalities set out by the federal government with regard to the program, including an increase of the meal fee per pupil from N70 (US$0.17) to N100 ($0.23), said Ijeh, adding that the caterers must make sure all beneficiary children have their biometrics captured, otherwise they would not be paid in the next phase.

According to the official, the biometric capture will begin with 49,000 pupils, and then an additional 49,000 will later be captured in this phase. There are 261,000 pupils enrolled in grades one to three across the state.

Delta is one of the states which joined the federal government initiative from its inception in 2016. It even organized training seminars for thousands of caterers providing meals to the children on ways of better preparing the home-grown food for the kids. But funding became an issue, caterers told BusinessDay: “because the payments were not steady they were not also steady in cooking.”

The NHGSFP is a program for public primary schools in Nigeria intended to improve nutritional value with locally-produced foodstuff, while enhancing academic performance and promoting excellence by pupils.

Although it faces some challenges, the scheme has had plaudits from the World Food Program, with the UN agency also offering technical support to Nigeria’s ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development to encourage the initiative.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  children  |  digital identity  |  HID  |  humanitarian  |  identity verification  |  Nigeria