The Federal government has made known its readiness to start home feeding of pupils under the school feeding programme of the government. The home feeding programme was announced by the Minister of Humanitarian Affair, Disaster Management and Social Development, Mrs Sadiya Umar Farouq. She said the programme will start with the FCT, Lagos, Ogun, and Kano state. Since schools have been closed the pupils will be given their food at their various home addresses. The programme will take off in 31 states where the Federal government is budgeting a hefty sum of N679m per day, which is about N13.5 monthly. The cost of logistics is expected to be heavy as food will be delivered to individual pupils’ homes. If on the other hand, pupils are expected to congregate to collect the food, the spread of Covid-19 is guaranteed. Mrs Sadiya Farouq said 3.1m households would benefit from the programme. 60% of the programme cost will be borne by the FG while the states will cough up the balance. The feeding programme will commence on Thursday the 14th of May 2020 with 3,131,971 households benefiting.
A lot of people are skeptical of the workability of the project. Does the FG know the pupils’ addresses? Is the government ready for the logistical challenges? Others believe the project is just another white elephant project crafted to divert public funds into private pockets. The various adjectives used to describe the project by some commentators include: sham, smokescreen, embarrassing, disrespectful, dishonest, unrealistic, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment