During his first national address on the COVID-19 pandemic, President Muhammadu Buhari directed that Schools should be closed to avoid the speed of the virus, yet he directed that the Home Grown School Feeding Programme under the Social Investment Proramme (SIP) of the government should continue.
The President directed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to ensure that the programme is sustained, a week after the schools were closed. “Furthermore, although schools are closed, I have instructed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to work with State Governments in developing a strategy on how to sustain the school feeding programme during this period without compromising our social distancing policies”.
Also speaking on the modalities of carrying out the Presidential directive, the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiyat Umar-Farouk, told journalists at one of the media briefing of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 that vouchers would be issued to parents of children covered under the school feeding programme.
This Programme is part of the 500 billion naira Social Investment initiative of the Federal Government. According to the Government, the programme was projected to provide 1.4 million jobs while almost 10 million children in 54,942 schools in 33 states are direct beneficiaries of the programme. The Minister explained that the modality to carry out the feed programe during the lockdown is through vouchers that would be given to parents of pupils of these schools in order to ensure efficiency.
Nigerians expressed reservations on the directive that it is a grand move for corruption and embezzlement. In fact the National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) alleged that it passives irregularities during the kick-off of the presidential directive in Abuja last month. The group alleged that the parents invited by the ministry to observe the kick-off could not be identified as members of the association. In fact the parents’ body called for a review of the programme.
Similarly, National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) and the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) among other civil society organisations have condemned the move.
We join these organisations to also condemn this move by the government. We submit that it is absolute fraud laced with opaque deals unknown to the general public. Since the government initiated various forms of palliatives measures to cushion the effect of the lockdown on vulnerable Nigerians, should there by any need to feed school children who are not at school? This action is a share misplacement of priority and a window for corrupt officials to feast fat on the common wealth of the people.
The Buhari government rides on the fight against corruption, we therefore demand that analysis of how the school feeding programme was implemented should be made public in order to redeem the image of the Social Investment Programmes of the government.
