Kaduna Govt feeding pupils

Kaduna State government has suspended the
Education Secretary of a Local Government Area in
the state (names withheld) for circumventing the
process of payment of vendors engaged in feeding
pupils.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Science
and Technology, Dr Shehu Adamu made this
known Saturday in Kaduna while giving updates to
newsmen on the implementation of state’s free
feeding programme for school children.
“Based on our arrangement, the monies for the
vendors would be deposited weekly in banks
where each of the vendors’ cooperative societies
opened account.
“The heads of the cooperative societies will
thereafter access the money and distribute same to
each vendor accordingly, based on the number of
pupils expected to feed in a week, at N50 per
plate.
“But it was alleged that the Education Secretary in
question gathered all the heads of the Cooperative
Societies within the local government in his office.
“He collected the monies from them and was
personally sharing it to the vendors, extending up
to the middle of Monday night, thereby affecting
the implementation of the programme in his local
government area.
“That is not his responsibility, and therefore, he is
suspended to enable the ministry carry out full
investigation into the matter, “Adamu said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gov
Nasiru El-Rufai had on Jan. 18, inaugurated a Free
Feeding programme to provide one meal per day
to 1.5 million pupils in over 4,000 public primary
schools in the state.
However, the programme had faced some
challenges in the first week of implementation in
some Local Government Areas due to the inability
of vendors to access the funds.
Adamu however assured that all the hitches
recorded during the first week of the
implementation of the programme were being
addressed and appealed for the cooperation of all
stakeholders
He equally said that the ministry also received
reports that some of the heads of cooperative
societies collected the monies and gave the
vendors in bits, and in some cases, to their friends
instead of the vendors.
He said that some of the women involved were
being investigation and would be charged to court
if necessary.
He said every pupil was expected to bring a plate
from home and a bottle of water as the programme
did not make provisions for drinking water.
“But we learnt that some of the pupils, instead of
coming with plate from home, collect the food in
polythene bags; this is unacceptable and should
stop forthwith.
“Therefore, parents must ensure that they provide
a plate and drinking water to their wards before
sending them to school,’’ he said.
The commissioner further warned teachers to
desist from forcing the children to buy plastic
plates being sold in the schools, adding that any
teacher caught would be penalised.
He urged the school-based management
committees, comprising parents and notable
community leaders, as well as Parents/Teachers
Association, to assist in monitoring to ensure the
success of the programme. (NAN)
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