No fewer than 11,000 cooks have so been screened in preparation for the commencement of the National Home-grown School Feeding programme in Kano state.

Hajiya Aisha Jafar, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on Social Intervention Programmes, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Kano on Saturday.

Jafar, who is also the focal person on Federal Government social intervention programmes in the state, said the screening was done in seven designated health centres.

According to her, the screening was aimed at ascertaining the health status of the prospective cooks.

“In Kano State, we require over 13,000 cooks for the implementation of this important programme. But so far, over 11,000 cooks have been screened.

“Each cook will not cook for over 150 pupils because they are expected to cook good meal.

“The programme will soon commence in Kano State as all the necessary arrangements have almost been completed,” she said.

On the N-power programme, Jafar said that as at July, 91,734 unemployed youths had registered in the state under the second phase of the programme.

She advised all those who applied for the programme to attend the physical screening exercise expected to be conducted soon.

She also commended the Federal Government for introducing the N-power programme, which is one of four schemes under the social intervention programmes.

She said that the intervention programmes had checked social vices among the teeming unemployed youth in the state and the country at large.