Since the outbreak of COVID-19, government has continue to roll out
\ndifferent palliative measures in order to cushion the effect of the
\nhardship ocassioned by the virus. One of these measures is the
\n‘modified\u2019 Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) which has
\ngenerated alot of concerns among Nigerians at home and in diaspora.<\/p>\n
During the lunching on 14th May, 2020, at the Federal Capital Territory,
\nAbuja, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and
\nSocial Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq stated that the reason for the
\nprogramme is to combat hunger which is a by-product of coronvirus and
\npromised to replicate the same in Lagos State, Ogun State before
\nextending it to other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
This is in compliance with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive made
\nin a nationwide broadcast, on 29 March, mandating the Minister to
\ncollaborate with the State government in proffering panacea to the
\npoverty caused by the pandemic particularly, with the lockdown that
\nfollowed the broadcast in Lagos, Ogun States and FCT.<\/p>\n
Through this programme, the ministry intends to help a total number of
\nof 3.1m households with a total budget of 13.5 billions by feeding their
\nchildren, especially, those in Primary 1-3. This seems to be a good idea
\nespecially at a time like this when the sources of income of some of
\nthese parents have diwndled. But at the same time, it might become
\nanother avenue for the unscrupulous elements in the system to further
\nperpetuate their corrupt and fraudulent activities if not properly
\nimplemented.<\/p>\n
For instance, the Education Secretary of Kaduna State, Dr Ibrahim Dan
\nMaraya, while briefing the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna in
\nFebruary, narrated how nine of their cooks ran away after collecting
\nN692,000 meant for the feeding of 336,000 pupils for that month.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the coordinator of the programme In Akwa Ibom, Dr. Godwin
\nAkpan, noted in 2017, that some of the school that are capitured in the
\nprogramme are currently not being fed.<\/p>\n
This was echoed by one of the teachers of Lutheran Primary School, Urua
\nIkpa, Itu Local government Area, of the State reported in the Nation
\nnewspaper who described the programme as a failure because of the
\ninconsistences in the food supply to the students.<\/p>\n
The mystery behind this inconsistency seems to have been unraveled with
\nthe protest by over 500 food vendors who alleged that the Scheme has
\nbeen hijacked by the politicians and some government officials diverting
\nsome of the funds meant for the programme in the State.<\/p>\n
Beyond the politicans and government officials interference, some of the
\nvendors have also been accused of cooking substandard food for the
\nstudents in spite of the huge amount of money collected from the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
A telling reference is the video that went viral on social media on 23rd
\nFebruary, where the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Mohammed Matawalle,
\nforced the Principal and Teachers of Government Science Secondary School
\nand Government Girls\u2019 Secondary School Gusau, to eat the substandard
\nfood being served to students during an unscheduled visit to the school.<\/p>\n
Chinwe Agbeze, a BDSUNDAY\u2019s investigative reporter, who disguised as
\nFederal Government official and later as a representative of a
\nnon-governmental organisation, gave similar account after visiting 10
\npublic primary schools in five states benefitting from the feeding
\nprogramme.<\/p>\n
All these happened while the schools were still in session, not to talk
\nof now that the schools are closed and the government still continue to
\nfeed the students at home. Though, in an effort to reduce these
\nchallenges the ministry is collaborating with the State to deliver this
\ntask. However, looking at the cases of ghost workers and others issues
\nthat have characterized almost every facets of the nation’s life, it is
\nobvious that States are not immune from these syndromes.<\/p>\n
Based on the design, the parents and guardians receive a ration of food
\nvalued at N4,200, comprising a 5 kg bag of rice, 5 kg bag of beans, 500
\nmiligramme vegetable oil, 750 ml palm oil, 500 mg salt, 15 pcs of eggs
\nand 140gm tomato paste each to feed their children at home.<\/p>\n
This is part of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP)
\nestablished in 2016 to tackle unemployment by creating jobs for food
\nvendors and other idle hands. In 2019, the Federal Government claimed
\nthat \u201cover nine million pupils in 52,604 schools are benefiting from
\nthe feeding while 101,913 cooks are being empowered across 30 states
\nthrough the programme since 2016.<\/p>\n
From this report, it is obvious that the government has done great job
\nin the war against poverty and illiteracy .But looking at the
\ncontroverses that characterized its implementation, it would be better
\nfor the Ministry to suspend the take-home ration and replace it with
\n“COVID-19 trader monies” or “COVID-19 support Fund” which should be paid
\ndirectly to the Bank Account of the targeted parents.<\/p>\n
This will reduce the interference of the corrupt elements feeding on the
\nfunds allocated for the HGSFP and directly modify the effect of this
\nvirus on the households, boast the country’s economy and prevent the
\ngovernment from unnecessary expenses.<\/p>\n
Femi Oluwasanmi,
\nIbafo,
\nOgun State.<\/p>\n
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, government has continue to roll out different palliative measures in order to cushion the effect of the hardship ocassioned by the virus. One of these…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n