The Minister said this at a durbar of the Chiefs and people of Bolgatanga, organised in honour of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, who is on a two-day visit to the Upper East Region to thank the people for voting him into office.

She said the President had directed that only food  stuffs produced by Ghanaian farmers should be used for the SFP and noted that  the increase in the number of  schools under the programme would not only help generate jobs and income for the farmers, but people such as Caterers and Transporters among others.

The Minister said the number of Schools that were to benefit from the SFP had been increased to 413 schools in the region, whilst under the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) programme 33,000 households would benefit.

She said the social intervention policies initiated by the government would help “leap many deprived people out of poverty”, and appealed to parents to take advantage of the Free Senior High School policy and other flagship programmes of the government to end the spate of child marriages in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.

She stated that President Nana Akuffo Addo as the Gender Champion of the Africa Union and the Chairperson of the Sustainable Development Goals, it would be appropriate if Ghana made significant impact in addressing challenges such as Child Marriage.

The Vice President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Naba Baba Salifu Lemyaarum, lauded the efforts of President and government for the introduction of the flagship programmes such as the Free Senior High School, One Village One Dam and the One Factory One District.

He said such policies would not only help create employment and alleviate poverty but would also help curb the rural urban drift in the area particularly among the youth. He pledged the commitment of the Chiefs in the area to help run the administration of the country.