School Feeding: Benue Govt Disengages Cooks Employed By Ortom

Benue State government has recruited 6,512 school feeding vendors shortlisted as cooks for the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in the state.

The new intakes, who replaced those engaged under the Samuel Ortom administration, were offered a two-year free medical treatment by the state government.

This was announced by the commissioner for humanitarian and disaster management, Aondowase Kunde at the training of “master cooks” for the programme.

Kunde said after a thorough evaluation of the programme as part of measures to re-organise it, cooks who served between 2017 and 2023 have been disengaged.

He said the measure was to give other women the opportunity to benefit from the programme as it is designed to be spread to all Nigerians, particularly the poor and vulnerable within a specified time.

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Kunde said, “This implies that all our would-be-cooks will be persons who have not benefitted from the programme in the past.

“I believe that the gains of this exercise will ensure the delivery of safe and healthy meals for the over 400,000 pupils billed to benefit from the programme in the State and also to ensure a healthy and safe hygienic environment for our children.

“I want to also charge the cooks who are selected for this master training to pay attention to the training sessions knowing that they will be required to step down the training to the over 6,512 vendors at the local level to ensure a seamless implementation of the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme in line with standard best practices.

“On our part as coordinating ministry for humanitarian interventions in Benue State, we are focused on strengthening the Social Investment Programme structure for maximum impact for the good of the ordinary Benue people,” he said.

He said, Governor Hyacinth Alia has therefore directed that the recruitment of cooks for the programme be done locally, in the council wards so that the common woman will have an opportunity to be part of the programme. This is a clear deviation from the past where only influential citizens cornered slots to themselves and their immediate families.

Earlier, the state programme facilitator, Joy Ijuwo, said the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme training flagged off in the state under the leadership of Governor Hycinth Alia uses the “Train the Trainer Model (TOT) where cooks are selected across the 23 councils to be trained as master cooks and to in turn step down the training in their various localities.”

Also, the state chairman All Progressives Congress (APC) Comrade Austin Agada who commended Governor Alia for the transparency shown in the implementation of the programme described the gesture as unique in the state.