Firms partner to serve 3000 meals daily in Lagos during Ramadan

The Noella Foundation has commenced the distribution of 3,000 meals daily across Lagos State for the 30-day Ramadan fast, scaling up a program that began as an emergency response during the Covid-19 pandemic into a recurring seasonal intervention.

In partnership with FoodClique Support Initiative, the foundation plans to serve about 90,000 meals over the course of the holy month, targeting low-income households across several local government areas in Nigeria’s commercial hub.

The feeding drive, now in its sixth year, was first launched in 2020 at the height of lockdown-induced disruptions that pushed more families into food insecurity.

Organisers say what started as crisis relief has evolved into a structured outreach embedded in the foundation’s broader hunger-eradication strategy.

Layal Tinubu, co-founder of the foundation, said the program reflects “the power of sustained partnership” and the role of private philanthropy in cushioning vulnerable communities during periods of economic strain.

“Ramadan is a season of sacrifice, reflection and generosity,” she said at the launch of this year’s distribution. “Through our continued partnership with FoodClique, we are able to extend meaningful support to thousands of families across Lagos.”

FoodClique, a registered non-governmental organisation focused on tackling hunger, is overseeing logistics, including meal preparation and distribution.

Volunteers and partner teams have been deployed across participating councils to coordinate daily disbursements and monitor compliance.

The outreach targets children, the elderly and persons living with disabilities — demographics often hit hardest by rising living costs.

Lagos, home to more than 20 million people, has faced mounting pressure from food inflation in recent years, amplifying demand for community-based interventions.

Since inception, the foundation says the Ramadan initiative has reached millions of beneficiaries, underscoring a shift from one-off charity to repeatable, scalable programming.

The effort sits within its four core pillars — education, employability, healthcare and hunger eradication — aimed at supporting vulnerable women, children and young adults.

Founded by Layal and Seyi Tinubu, the Noella Foundation aligns its interventions with global development benchmarks, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as it seeks to position its programmes within longer-term social impact frameworks.

For organisers, the annual Ramadan drive is both symbolic and practical — a faith-season response to hunger that has become a fixture on Lagos’ philanthropic calendar.

Wasiu Alli

Wasiu Alli is a business, economics cum data journalist with strong expertise covering macro trends, capital markets, government policies, corporate earnings and comparative economics analysis. Alli turns raw data into trends that not only tells compelling stories but nudges investors to make valued and informed decisions. He’s an alumnus of Lagos State University and trained at Lagos Business School. He formerly heads the Companies and Markets desk at BusinessDay where he writes and supervises the production of well researched articles on earnings updates, corporate sectoral comparisons, market intelligence as well as interviews with C-suite executives.