The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has commenced the daily feeding of school children at the camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Dalori and Bama, as part of its renewed efforts to promote primary school education among disadvantaged pupils. At the simultaneous flag-off of the feeding programme at both camps on 28 June 2017, the NAF Chief of Medical Services, Air Vice Marshal Saleh Shinkafi, who represented the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), stated that the programme would entail the provision one meal daily to five hundred school children each from both Dalori and Bama IDP camps. Accordingly, a total of thousand children daily would benefit from the programme every day for the next six to eight months. He further stated that the CAS, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, mooted the idea of the school feeding scheme so as to reduce malnutrition among the pupils in order to give them the opportunity to live and also go to school. According to him, the programme, which could be extended depending on the availability of resources, would provide assistance and succour to the children and complement the efforts of the Federal and State Governments.
At the event, the Commander of NAF’s 105 Composite Group in Maiduguri, Air Commodore Tajudeen Yusuf remarked that the programme would contribute to the survival of the generation of pupils in the IDP camps to enable them contribute positively to the nation in the future. The Headmistress of Dalori Camp 1 Primary School, where the programme started, Mrs Yapati Sanda, thanked the NAF for the kind gesture and stated that this singular action would encourage many pupils that had dropped out of school to resume classes.
It would be recalled that only recently, the NAF airlifted the recently donated Indomie noodles, worth over Ten Million Naira, to Maiduguri to supplement the nutritional programme for children in IDP camps. It is equally significant to note that a 5-year old malnourished and abandoned child had earlier benefitted from the NAF nutritional programme for children in IDP camps. The NAF intends to intensify its humanitarian efforts in the crises areas, as part of its contributions to adding value to the society.
