… as stakeholders ask FG to increase budget or stop programme
- Pupils poorly fed, exposed to food poisoning, parents lament
- FG no longer funds programme – State govt
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Stakeholders in the education sector have said the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme instituted by the Federal Government has failed to achieve its set objectives, given the alleged poor quality of food now being served school children.
According to them, the scheme, under the Federal Government’s National Social Investment Programmes, has flopped as its budget does not reflect the rising prices of foodstuffs.
Parents, specifically, complained that their children in primary schools were being served food that lackedessential nutrients, saying this development had defeated the scheme’s objective of tackling malnutrition among Nigerian children.
Recall that the school feeding programme was launched in 2016 with a view to addressing the growing number of out-of-school children and tackling malnutrition due to poverty among Nigerian children and their attendant consequences on education.
The stakeholders, who spoke in separate interviews with The Point, said food vendors recruited by the Federal Government had been thrown into a difficult situation rationing the meagre financial resources released to them, alleging that the one free ‘nutritious meal’ a day during school hours in over 53,000 schools across the country might expose the beneficiaries to danger if poor or unhealthy food items and ingredients were used in preparing the meal.
This fear by stakeholders was provoked by the recent incident of suspected food contamination, which led to about 18 pupils of St. James Primary School B, Owoope, Osogbo, Osun State being hospitalised.
The pupils were reportedly rushed to the hospital, last week, following complications they developed after allegedly taking the mid-day meal served to them in their school, under the government’s free school feeding programme.
The incident had caused panic, especially among parents of the affected pupils, as videos of them on hospital beds were shared on the social media, even as the state government said the cause of hazard was not as a result of the free meal the children ate.
Narrating how they suddenly became ill, one of the victims explained that they were served rice with egg, after which they started running stool and vomiting.
Also in the video, mothers of the victims, said they observed foul smell of the egg their children were served when they returned home from school that day.
Meanwhile, the Manager of the School Feeding Programme in Osun, Mrs Olufunke Adedigba, disclosed that the Federal Government “feeds each pupil with N100 per day.”
Checks by The Point revealed that the nationwide increase in prices of food items has negative effects on the quality and size of meals being served the pupils as fruits, chicken and beef, which were included in the meal at its inception, are no longer provided for the pupils.
Decrying the reduction in the quantity and quality of food being served to the young learners, a parent, Mr Omolewa Adesoji, urged the Federal Government to either increase the budget for the school feeding programme or stop it for the safety of pupils.
He said, “Our government should be more serious about this school feeding programme. How can government feed a child with N100 with this economic reality? When an egg is sold at N130, that means pupils should not expect egg in their food. As I speak, these children no longer get fruits, beef, chicken and other varieties that the government provided when the scheme was launched.
“Without increasing the budgetary provision, it would amount to risking the lives of these pupils because the vendors would only buy the food items that their meagre money can afford.”
Reacting, Oladele Bamiji, the Senior Special Adviser on Media to Osun State Governor, said the Federal Government had not paid the state for the scheme since September, 2022, adding that other states of the federation had stopped the free feeding programme.
