The minister made the disclosure at a town hall meeting in Gusau on Monday.

She said the scheme was being carried out in 1,759 schools spread across the 14 local government areas of the state.

Faruk added that 2,000 cooks were employed in the state to provide food to the pupils.

On the town hall meeting, the minister explained that it was to identify, articulate and derive solutions to the humanitarian and developmental challenges in the state.

“It must be noted that the COVID-19 lockdown, ongoing activities of armed bandits and the flooding experienced across the North West has led to the displacement of over 247,000 persons across Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna, Niger and Kebbi.

“This has impacted on the economic and agricultural activities in Zamfara State, thereby, creating social and economic vulnerabilities.

“This Townhall meeting is significant, as it will allow us to collectively communicate, identify, articulate and derive solutions to the humanitarian and developmental challenges that have arisen in Zamfara State from banditry, extreme weather conditions and the COVID – 19 pandemic,” she said.

Faruk commended the commitment of Zamfara government in addressing the challenges of economic vulnerability, and pledged that her ministry will continue to partner with the state to implement humanitarian, social inclusion and protection measures.

According to her, the Federal Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) programme had provided loans to 48,503 individuals in Zamfara.

She also said that the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme has impacted positively on the lives of over 6.44 million vulnerable poor people across the country, including Zamfara.

“Beneficiaries enrolled into the program increased from 630,964 Poor and Vulnerable Households with direct household beneficiaries of 3,201,402 as at August 2019, to 1,289,405 Poor and
Vulnerable Households with 6,443,878 direct households beneficiaries as at August 2020.

“Number of beneficiaries receiving payment increased from 469,362 households in 22 states to over one million in 34 states.

“The CCT is providing support to 129,137 poor and vulnerable households in Zamfara with a monthly base cash transfer of N5,000, with the sole aim of graduating them out of poverty,” she said.

Gov. Bello Matawalle, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Bala Maru, appealed to the federal government to fulfill its earlier promise of providing N10 billion to support victims of flood and armed banditry in the state.

Matawalle also appealed to the federal government to reconstruct the Dansadau-Birnin Gwari-Minna federal road, which went through Zamfara, Kaduna and Niger states.

The governor explained that the reconstruction of the road will aid the fight against banditry in the state.

He called for synergy between the state government and Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, to form a joint team for distribution of support materials to deserving persons.

Also in his remarks, Chairman, Zamfara Council of Chiefs, who is also the Emir of Anka, Alhaji Ahmad Muhammad appealed to the federal government to provide assistance to displaced person and families affected by banditry.

Our correspondent reports that others who spoke at the town hall meeting called for sustainable measures to tackle poverty and banditry, as well as the challenges in the educational and agricultural sectors.

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Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minster of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development made the disclosure in a statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Mr Salisu Dambatta on Tuesday in Abuja.

The minister said the resumption was based on a presidential directive.

She said each household would receive a Take-Home Ration (THR) valued N4,200 made up of 5 kg Bag of Rice, 5 kg Bag of Beans, 500 ml Vegetable Oil, 750 ml Palm Oil, 500 mg Salt, 15 pcs of eggs, 140gm Tomato Paste.

“The ministry in consultation and collaboration with state governments, identified the distribution of take-home rations to the households of the children on the programme as a feasible method of achieving this directive.

“This is a globally accepted means of supporting children to continue to have access to nutrient rich foods despite disruptions to the traditional channels of school feeding by the pandemic.

“The provision of take-home rations will, therefore, be carried out based on data provided and structures put in place by the feeding programme over the years.

“Kwara and Bayelsa where the programme was not fully operational before the lockdown will be able to benefit from the modified programme.

“The target beneficiaries are children in primary one to three in public schools participating in the programme. A total of 3,131,971 households are targeted for this intervention.

“Parents/caregivers of beneficiaries are to collect the take-home rations using vouchers.

“We are employing vouchers which are QR coded, serialised with date and time stamped and identified households will be able to access take-home rations from distribution centers.

“Each household will receive uncooked food items that have been assessed and approved by nutrition experts as adequate for the children.

“However, over 6,000 schools will serve as distribution centers for clusters of communities except in some states with unique security and safety issues where other structures will be used,” Farouq said.

She explained that the ministry had also incorporated rapid sensitisation into all phases of this distribution so that people are equipped with the knowledge they needed to stay safe and maintain social distancing.

According to Farouq, the ministry is also deploying resources to provide oversight for these processes to ensure equity and accountability.

She noted that field personnel and monitoring teams had been set up and are ready to move.

“As an extra layer of monitoring, the ministry has requested other agencies of government including the DSS, EFCC, ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau and a host of NGOs and CSOs to help monitor.

“The ministry’s hotlines will be made available to the public to provide accurate information and for grievance redress,” she said.

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