The idea of feeding pupils is wonderful but in Niger State, everything about its implementation is horrible, including what is served and how it is served. JUSTINA ASISHANA reports
What can be better than giving pupils good food while they learn? But the Federal Government’s National Home Grown School Feeding Programme in Niger State is leaving a sour taste in the mouth. What is served is below par, how it is served is woeful. In many cases, it cannot go round, leaving administrators to split what should have been given one pupil.
The programme began with a lot of expectations and high hopes, which were dashed just days after it was launched. From poor food to poor method of serving to poor hygiene, the people of the state are wondering if the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor handling the project has something better up their sleeves.
The Nation visited some schools in Minna, the state capital, and its environs from the beginning of the programme which began on Monday, November 21. Food was really not up to expectations, according to the claims of parents, pupils, teachers and other stakeholders.
The school feeding programme which was expected to commence on September 25 in all public schools across the state, was delayed by more than a month, and despite all the arrangements put in place, the programme evidently was not up to scratch.
The school feeding programme is expected to improve the children’s diet as N70 is expected to be spent on a child daily. It is being carried out in 17 states in Nigeria.
Last December the state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello directed the kick-off of the school feeding programme in the state, promising that all was on the ground to fully implement the project.
The Nation also gathered that the federal government had earmarked over N1.2 billion is has been earmarked to be spend for 859,480 pupils in 3,000 public schools across the state.
Although this money is not coming from the coffers of the federal government, the state government would determine how this would be spent for the success of the programme.
As a preparation to the commencement of the programme, 5,924 vendors were selected and trained on how to cook the various kind of food to be served to the children in a hygienic and safe way.
The meal to be served to the pupils include, noodles and egg on Monday, rice and beans on Tuesday, beans porridge and bread on Wednesday and jollof rice on Thursday and Friday.
The nation gathered that 44,000 litres of palm oil, over 30,000 cartons of noodles, 5,924 bags each of rice and beans were received by the Directorate of Social Investment Programme the previous day and were distributed to the twenty-five local government areas of the state.
However, outrage greeted the programme when it began as teachers and parents frowned at the children being served their food in polythene bags as no provisions were made for plates, thereafter, the children were told to bring plates from their home while coming to school and anyone without plates would be served their food in polythene bags.
The take away packs being promised to be used to serve the children was only used during the flag off ceremony on Monday in some primary schools located in highbrow areas of Minna metropolis but those in the rural areas were served their food in nylons.
A visit by The Nation to some schools in Minna, Bossier and Paiko from Monday to Friday revealed that the food vendors were not given money for take away packs.
However, while they were caught unaware on Monday which made them to serve the food with nylons, the vendors took the initiative to tell the students to bring their plates when coming to school the next day.
Not enough food
Despite the huge amount budgeted for the programme, the pupils do not get enough to eat while some do not get at all.
The pupils were fed noddles and egg on Monday with each child getting a quarter of an egg, on Tuesday, they were fed with beans and bread with two children sharing a slice of bread while in some of the schools visited, the bread was not enough to go round the children.
On Wednesday, the meat shared was so tiny and not enough to go round the pupils, some having to eat without meat. On Thursday and Friday, the food vendors were given two pieces of smoked fish for the jollof rice and they had to break it into the food.
The food vendors explained to The Nation that they were told to cater for 50 pupils but on getting to the schools, there was no class that had less than 50 pupils. Most of them met a population of 70 pupils and upward.
One of the vendors who gave her name as Aisha said that the provision made was for 50 students per class but on getting to the schools, they discovered that some classes had over 80 students adding that when they complained to the local government officials, they were ignored.
Aisha said she had to buy plates on her own so that the children will not be served in nylon while she confirmed that they shared an egg for three to four students.
“They did not give us money for takeaway packs. We were told to buy the coolers and plates on credit as we would be reimbursed. Even the ingredients for cooking the food is not being given to us, we were told to borrow money and we would be reimbursed.
“The food given to us is too small to carter for the population we met on ground. They told us 50 students would be in a class but here, we have more than 90 pupils. For the beans we cooked today, we were given two mudus (a mudu is a measurement used in the north) of beans and we were told that we would be given three mudus of rice to cook for them. This will not be enough…”
Meanwhile, the Project Manager, Empowerment and Social Protection, Honorable Attahiru Musa Abubakar said that each vendor would be given four mudus of rice and four mudus of beans.
“We have done all the calculations and we know what we will use in feeding the children. For instance, we give four mudu of rice, four mudu of beans, twelve cartons of noodles and four gallons of four litres of palm oil to each food vendor for the next ten days. You know we are using N70 budgetary provision for each child per meal. So, we can’t feed each child with an egg. We divide an egg into two. So, two crates will be used to feed one hundred and twenty pupils”.
While most teachers and observers expressed outrage over the state of food and the way it is being served, the vendors defended themselves saying that the population in the schools was more that food items they were given.
Unpalatable food
While The Nation was not opportune to taste the food, the way it looked and explanation given on how it was cooked showed that the food is unpalatable.
Borrowing an expression from one of the teachers in Limawa Primary School in Minna, “this food is not good enough to feed the destitute.”
The rice which should have been cooked with vegetable oil was cooked with palm oil while there was no enough oil in the beans that was cooked in Tuesday. Some of the rice was whitish as the cooks claimed there was no enough oil for them to use.
While some schools make moves of sending back some vendors because of the way the food looked, other schools, especially those in the remote areas had to accept what is brought just so that the pupils have something to eat.
However, one can say it is not the fault that the food is unpalatable because according to one of the vendors, Halima Abubakar of Limawa Primary School, they were not given ingredients to cook the food.
“We were given 60 pieces of Maggi, small sachet of and nothing else. We were told to borrow money to buy ingredients if it finishes but where are we to get the money when we are not paid? “Another vendor, Amina Aliyu said, “like today, we were given two pieces of fish, how are we going to serve the children with it? How can two fish go round 70 pupils? Truthfully, if we want to follow their instructions, the food would be uneatable. We are just sacrificing to cook this food because they are our children.”
Most of the teachers in the schools visited expressed disgust over the way and manner the food was being served.
In Nkangbe primary school, one of the teachers, Miss Eunice Kolo said,”this is not acceptable. If they don’t want to give these children food, they should stop coming. How can you share a slice of bread for two children, what would they use it for? “Another teacher in a Primary School in Suleja said, “this project have failed on arrival. The noodles is not well cooked, it is not done. Who eats something like this? We will make complain about this. “
Vendors’ complaints
The stress being undertaken by the food vendors, when narrated to The Nation, was pathetic. They go back to the local government secretariat every day to collect the food items that would be used to cook for the next day.
The Nation observed that some of them do not get the food items which make them not to be able to cook and take to schools the next day while others have to leave in order to take care of domestic needs.
One of the leader of the food vendors, Hajiya Hajara Sallaha said that most of the vendors come from far places and they are not been given transportation fare explaining that most of the defaulters do not get items at the secretariat while some who got items could not get money to buy ingredients to cook the food while others have no transportation fare to convey them to the secretariat or the schools they are posted to.
“Most of us have no ingredients, no Maggi, no salt, no money to buy it and no transportation. Some of them are coming from very far places. I have complained at the local government bit nothing is being done.”
Another vendor, Aisha Suleiman asked that the local government decentralised the sharing of food items as the current arrangement is not to the favor of anybody.
“The local government should decentralise the sharing of the food. They should share our papers school by school. Going to the local government council daily is a big task for my colleagues and I. Yesterday, I went there by 11 am and left at about 9pm. We all have children and husbands and it is not favorable to us.”
One of the food vendors, Halima Bosso lamented how she used her personal money to prepare the meal and how she had to struggle to pay her transport fare to convey the food down to the school where she was to serve the pupils.
“Our challenge is that of financial. We were not being given any money. And nobody is given us any explanation. We were told to open account, which we did. They credited N80,000 into our account, but they later deducted N69,000 from it. Even the remaining money we can’t access it. We don’t know why. If they don’t give us any positive explanation by tomorrow, I don’t think we can cook by tomorrow”.
The other women who also voiced their complaints claimed to be going through hard times said that they will no longer cook if they are not paid their allowances. While some claimed they had received alert in their accounts but the money was freezed making them unable to access it, others claimed that they have not received anything.
However, earlier before the commencement of the school feeding programme, the The Director-General, Social Investment , Honorable Afiniki Dauda that some of the accounts have been cleared by Nigeria Inter-Bank System Plc (NIPPS).
According to her, BVN confirmation is affecting the payment of the funds for the programme by the federal government as she stated that most of the details given by the vendors do not match the BVN database.
Parents and stakeholders reactions
Some parents, teachers and stakeholders spoke to The Nation while others took to the social media to express their anger towards the programme and its implementation as most of them advocated that the money be used for infrastructural development.
Mr. Ibrahim Abdul said the the initiative would have been appreciable if the schools were built, equipped and well modeled to the needed standard with adequate man power.
“I am sure reasonable number of progressives won’t be surprised seeing pupils feeding in nylon leathers, used and old plates on the first day of It implementation which I call a total display of shame.
