FG misses school feeding take-off target

Primary schools throughout Nigeria resumed  for the first term of the current school year shortly after the Sallah holidays in September 2016, with many Nigerians eager to see the commencement of school feeding involving 5.5 million pupils nationwide.

School feeding was one of the major programs for which N500 billion was budgeted for 2016. Before the resumption of schools, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, flanked by two All Progressive Congress (APC) governors had pronounced in Aso Rock, on June 9, 2016, that the food program would commence on time. Then in July, Mrs. Abimbola Adesanmi, National Manager of the program, had also repeated the same promise.

We expressed our skepticism regarding the take-off date of the program for two reasons. First, we were almost certain that the funds might not be available to execute the Social Welfare Programme (SWP). We felt the 2016 budget was over-ambitious and most of the promises would not be fulfilled this year. Second, we raised questions about the choice of schools which would benefit, and the logistics of supplying those schools in remote areas on a daily basis.

Federal Government officials dismissed these legitimate concerns. In September, the Minister of Finance announced that N70 billion had been released to Mrs. Maryam Uwais, the wife of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, who is in charge of the SWP. That was a mere 14 per cent of the entire year’s budget; there was no guarantee of more funds being received. That same September, the House of Representatives summoned Uwais wanting to know the details of SWP. She asked the House to give her more time.

By that time it required no rocket science intelligence to know that the SWP, and especially the school feeding component, were in trouble for the reasons we had earlier cautioned the Federal Government. As it is, October will end without food for the 5.5 million children. It may not effectively start before December 2016.

The Buhari administration, like other governments before it, is beginning to realize that good intentions are never enough to govern a country successfully. Good organization based on sound homework and grassroots knowledge of Nigeria are the ingredients for success.

It is doubtful if any of the managers of this program is familiar with rural life – which is where most of the 5.5 million pupils needing free food are located. It is impossible to manage well without adequate knowledge and funds availability.

We hope the Federal Government will learn from its blunders of this year and prepare for a more credible implementation of the entire SWP package, particularly the school feeding program. It will be a major item to assess this regime.