FG To Commence School Feeding Programme In Four States Next Week

[Edoman]

Faith Yahaya, Abuja

THE Federal Government has disclosed that the school feeding programme for pupils in primary schools will commence next week in four states.

As part of measures to cushion the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on vulnerable households, President Muhammadu Buhari had, during his first broadcast in March, directed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to work with relevant state governments in developing a strategy on how to sustain the school feeding programme despite closure of schools.

In carrying out the directive, the ministry said it would liaise with state governors to work out modalities on how the feeding programme would continue while pupils are at home.

The minister in previous fora had also hinted that a door-to-door voucher distribution system would be used for the feeding exercise.

Giving an update on the programme, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, said the exercise would commence in Lagos, Ogun, Kano states, and the FCT next week.

Speaking at the Karimajiji Disabled Colony in the FCT yesterday during the distribution of palliatives to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), the minister said: “By next week, we are going to start off the school feeding programme with FCT, Lagos, Ogun, and Kano states.

https://thenationonlineng.net/fg-to-commence-school-feeding-programme-in-four-states-next-week/

[Edoman]

Fraud Alert

3.1M Households Will Benefit from School Feeding Scheme During Lockdown ― Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs. - Chidi Cali.



Mrs Farouq is the Most Dishonest & Corrupt Minister In Buhari’s Govt. She has failed to show the modalities she used in sharing the relief materials or the data she relied in sharing Trillions earmarked for various social intervention programs and COVID-19 relief.


After Nigeria rejected her planned feeding of school children in their homes, Mrs Farouq is insisting on going on with this policy in other to retire the Billions budgeted for this scheme in 2020 budget.


Not minding that the COVID-19 pandemic has made it practically impossible to freely move around as before and also dangerous for anyone to visit children in their homes to send food.


How has Nigeria wronged this woman and her likes that after “eating the flesh of Nigeria, they are heartlessly going for the bone”. - Chidi Cali

[Edoman]

seriously  




School feeding @ home. When did one's home become school. Call it another name, call it home feeding.



My prayer is that all those involved in this deceit and siphoning of our commonwealth will not escape it.

Cashing out at any opportunity

[Edoman]

SERAP asks FG to publish details of suppliers, budget for home feeding programme 


Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to the Federal Government, asking “the authorities to urgently publish details of the suppliers and contractors, the procurement rules, including bidding processes, the total budget, and all designated voucher distribution and collection sites for the implementation of the school feeding programme at home.”

SERAP is also seeking “information on the number of states to be covered during the COVID-19 crisis, the projected spending per state, details of the mechanisms and logistics that have been put in place to carry out the programme, as well as the role expected to be played by the World Food Programme.”

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disasters Management and Social Development, Ms Sadia Umar-Farouk had on Wednesday announced that the government would start feeding school children in their homes during the COVID-19 crisis, starting from Ogun and Lagos states, and Abuja.

In the FoI request dated 9 May, 2020 and sent to Ms Sadia Umar-Farouk, SERAP is asking the government to: “urgently invite the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to monitor the implementation of the programme.”

The FoI request signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, read in part: “Publishing the details requested is in the public interest. This would help to address public scepticism regarding the ability of the government to satisfactorily implement the programme, promote openness, and allow Nigerians to track its implementation and to hold suppliers and contractors to account.”

“SERAP notes that the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party requires the government to set the highest standards of transparency, accountability and probity in programmes that it oversees.”

“The government has a responsibility to ensure that these requirements and other anti-corruption controls are fully implemented and monitored, and to ensure that the programme benefits the children and families who need it the most.”

“Publishing the details of suppliers and contractors and the procurement rules being implemented for executing the school feeding programme at home would also remove the risks of conflicts of interest and politicisation of the programme, as well as promote transparency and accountability.”

“We urge you to also establish online national database for all suppliers and contractors responsible for carrying out the programme to feed school children in their homes, which is expected to cover over three million households in Lagos and Ogun states, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

“We would be grateful if the requested information is provided to us within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, the Registered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions under the Freedom of Information Act to compel you to comply with our request.”

“According to our information, the Federal Government through your Ministry is set to partners with states, Federal Capital Territory, and World Food Programme to implement the school feeding programme at home during the lockdown. This home feeding programme reportedly followed the directive in March, 2020 by President Muhammadu Buhari to your Ministry to identify modalities and continuation of the school feeding programme during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Procurement and contracting are high-risk areas for mismanagement and corruption. By Section 1 (1) of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2011, SERAP is entitled as of right to request for or gain access to information, including information on details of suppliers and contractors that have been hired to implement the school feeding programme at home.”

“By Section 4 (a) of the FoI Act, when a person makes a request for information from a public official, institution or agency, the public official, institution or urgency to whom the application is directed is under a binding legal obligation to provide the applicant with the information requested for, except as otherwise provided by the Act, within 7 days after the application is received.”

“By Sections 2(3)(d)(V) & (4) of the FoI Act, there is a binding legal duty to ensure that documents containing information relating to including information on details of suppliers and contractors that have been hired to implement the school feeding programme at home are widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various means.”

“The information being requested does not come within the purview of the types of information exempted from disclosure by the provisions of the FoI Act. The information requested for as indicated above, apart from not being exempted from disclosure under the FoI Act, bothers on an issue of national interest, public concern, interest of human rights, social justice, good governance, transparency and accountability.”

http://serap-nigeria.org/serap-asks-fg-to-publish-details-of-suppliers-sites-budget-for-home-feeding-programme.ngo/

[Edoman]

Buhari govt to feed 3 million school children in Nigeria – Sadiya Farouk

 May 12, 2020




The Buhari administration says the Home Grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP) for primary school pupils will resume on Thursday, May 14, 2020.

It will take off in Abuja and subsequently Lagos, Ogun and other states.


The federal government announced that a total of 3,131,971 households are targeted for the intervention.

Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, made the disclosure in a statement by her spokesman, Salisu Dambatta on Tuesday.


Farouq explained that the resumption of the feeding scheme followed a presidential directive.


She said each household would receive a Take-Home Ration (THR) valued at N4,200 which is made up of 5 kg Bag of Rice, 5 kg Bag of Beans, 500 ml Vegetable Oil, 750 ml Palm Oil, 500 mg Salt, 15 pcs of eggs, and 140gm Tomato Paste.

“The provision of take-home rations will be carried out based on data provided and structures put in place by the feeding programme over the years. Kwara and Bayelsa where the programme was not fully operational before the lockdown will benefit from the modified programme.


“The target beneficiaries are children in primary one to three in public schools participating in the programme. Parents/caregivers of beneficiaries are to collect the take-home rations using vouchers. We are employing vouchers which are QR coded, serialised with date and time-stamp.


“Identified households will be able to access take-home rations from distribution centers. Each will receive uncooked food items that have been assessed and approved by nutrition experts as adequate for the children. 6,000 schools will serve as distribution centers, except in some states with unique security and safety issues”, the statement added

[Edoman]

[b]FG Spends N679m Daily On Feeding Schoolchildren During Lockdown 


Worry, as FG spends N679m daily on feeding schoolchildren during lockdown

•NANS, NUT, others worry, query workability of logistics

•FG asks DSS, EFCC,ICPC,others to monitor contractors

•Says beneficiaries ‘ll receive uncooked food items worth N4,200[/b]

Insistence by the Federal Government to continue its homegrown school feeding programme, even when schools in the country are currently shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, may not only fail abysmally, but become a drain pipe on the lean resources of government at this point in time.

This is the position of some stakeholders in the education sector such as the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Concerned Parents and Educators, CPE among others.

They made their positions on the matter known while speaking with Vanguard, basing their fears on workability of the logistics needed to take food to the homes of pupils since people are not allowed to congregate in large numbers because of the pandemic.

This is just as it was gathered that government claims to be spending the sum of N679 million daily or N13.5 billion monthly on the project in 31 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

NANS’ position

According to the South-West Coordinator of NANS, Comrade Kappo Samuel Olawale, given the situation in the country, the plan is not realistic.

“The plan is not realistic at all. To me, it is a huge prank and a costly one for that matter. How many houses will the food vendors cover since schools are not in session and pupils cannot congregate at a point?

“If they ask the vendors to go and supply the food rations to the pupils at home, it is not that the beneficiaries are living at a spot or a particular place. Even if that is possible, it will increase the cost of logistics.

“Also, if you are asking the pupils to go to a particular place to collect vouchers for the food or even collect the food, there is no doubt the situation will become rowdy and the large gatherings we want to avoid will present themselves, the process would eventually be hijacked by others.

“Why can’t they feed the parents and the parents feed their wards? The other time palliatives were to be given people, the process was badly coordinated. The truth is some people just want to make money for themselves,” he said.

NUT reacts

Reacting, Lagos State Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Otunba Adesina Adedoyin, who spoke in a similar manner, wondered why pupils in private schools were not included in the programme from the beginning.

“As a teacher, I know that our pupils and students live in different communities. In Lagos, some people live in Ikorodu and run businesses and shops on Lagos Island and, thereby enrol, their wards in schools close to their business premises. How easy will it be to now take food meant for such students to their home addresses?

“The logistics the government would need to implement this would definitely not be Nigerian,” he said.

Parents’ angle

Founder, CPE, Mrs Yinka Ogunde, asked whether government has data on the pupils.

“I don’t know the level of their preparedness when one talks about logistics as that would inform the workability or otherwise of their plan. The logistics must be well thought-out. We must be careful not to create a bigger problem while trying to solve one,” she opined.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vanguardngr.com/2020/05/worry-as-fg-spends-n679m-daily-on-feeding-schoolchildren-during-lockdown/amp/

[Edoman]

We Must Feed The School Kids During Lockdown. - Ms Farouq. 


“We are going ahead with school feeding programme during the lockdown starting with Lagos and Ogun States.


“A total of 3.1 million households are targeted for this intervention. - Sadiya Umar-Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Mgt and Social Dev.


Every effort by Nigerians to inform and stop this woman from embarking on this programme which is apparent that the intended recipients will not benefit from it, has being rebuffed.


In normal situations like school holidays, this scheme has never been operated, and this begs the question, why is Ms Farouq insisting on it now that Nigeria is fighting a terrible virus?


The issue here is that her ministry has squandered the budget/allocation for school feeding for 2020 fiscal year and Mrs Farouq is doing everything in the book to use bogus activities to cover her back.


What will N4,700 worth of foodstuffs do for a school kid in weeks and who will bear the cost of logistics getting the food items to the state, LGAs and Primary school?


WHY IS THIS WOMAN BENT ON STEALING FROM THE LEAST IN THE SOCIETY IN NAME OF SCHOOL FEEDING UNDER LOCKDOWN? - Chidi Cali


plz follow me on Twitter @chidi2chidi

[Edoman]

Tufiakwa.......