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The President Mohammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has launched the Home-grown school feeding programme for primary school pupils in the country. The free feeding scheme is a core project of the Federal Government that it is said would increase food production and attract fresh investments. Below is a list of reasons why the free school feeding programme may fail.
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1. Wrong Move: The move by the Federal Government may have been to fulfil part of their campaign promises but it is not coming at a very good time in the workings of a real government – where 27 states are still grappling with non payment of salaries, and a sinking GDP. Instead, the government should have tailored its energy towards total overhauling of the education sector, boosting teachers' capacity through trainings, and access to quality infrastructure to learn in local communities. Students will find joy in the classrooms when they are well taught, and learn well as opposed to coming to school for daily bread.
2. Huge Debt: According to the Vice President, “N93.1 billion from the budget has been set aside to take care of the feeding needs of millions of primary school children in Nigerian schools. The multiplier effect of the introduction of the school feeding scheme would help increase food production by up to 530,000 metric tonnes per annum and attract fresh investments of up to N980 billion.” This may not be so because of the resultant effect of this scheme. Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product, GDP, has hit its lowest level in 25 years, according to the first quarter report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The NBS report says the country’s economy has crashed to a 25-year low of -0.36 percent.
3. Welfare schemes are not sustainable: Welfare programs and government handouts have not always been sustainable. Government is a continuum. The APC-led overnment will not occupy the federal seat for ever, the next administration may jettison the scheme and will terribly affect the school children who were 'bought' with a plate of rice to attend classes. It may (for now) serve as an incentive for the children to go to school, but once the food is off the table, the classes are out of their minds. Aside pulling the economy down, some state governments have attempted school feeding programmes without much success. Lagos, Osun and Kano states, among others, have at one time or another introduced school feeding scheme but could not sustain it with the programme always bogged down by poor funding & poor logistics.
A recent case in Kaduna state where students returned home after taking the free meals is an indication of a jeopardized programme.
4. Self enrichment & Breeding Corruption: This cannot be exempted from the Home-grown School Feeding Programme. It is a quick avenue to wealth for some persons in government, with no proper measures in place to check this. The recent disappearance of 71 trailers of rice and other grains meant for the Internally Displaced persons in Adamawa state is a cause for concern and may repeat itself with the school feeding scheme.
5. We have been here before: The idea of school feeding programme is not altogether new. Both the Federal and some state governments tinkered with the idea in the past without much success. For example, in 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched what he called a home-grown school feeding programme aimed at improving the nutritional intake of at least 25 million children of school age.
Obasanjo boasted then that “Nigeria is making a statement that it cares about her children and the future of the nation.” He noted that the programme would not only increase school enrolment and completion rates of children, particularly, in rural communities and urban neighbourhoods, but also stimulate local food production and boost the income of farmers. Unfortunately, the programme hardly saw the light of the day as it simply fizzled away.
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Federal Government's Free School Feeding Scheme may have been a demonstration of its commitment to tackling the rot in Nigeria’s education system from the root coupled with the abject poverty wreaking havoc in most families who can barely afford one meal a day, but better solutions to issues should be to invest in education – calling on key players to steer its affairs, and not carrying more than our economic capacity.
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1. Wrong Move: The move by the Federal Government may have been to fulfil part of their campaign promises but it is not coming at a very good time in the workings of a real government – where 27 states are still grappling with non payment of salaries, and a sinking GDP. Instead, the government should have tailored its energy towards total overhauling of the education sector, boosting teachers' capacity through trainings, and access to quality infrastructure to learn in local communities. Students will find joy in the classrooms when they are well taught, and learn well as opposed to coming to school for daily bread.
2. Huge Debt: According to the Vice President, “N93.1 billion from the budget has been set aside to take care of the feeding needs of millions of primary school children in Nigerian schools. The multiplier effect of the introduction of the school feeding scheme would help increase food production by up to 530,000 metric tonnes per annum and attract fresh investments of up to N980 billion.” This may not be so because of the resultant effect of this scheme. Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product, GDP, has hit its lowest level in 25 years, according to the first quarter report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The NBS report says the country’s economy has crashed to a 25-year low of -0.36 percent.
3. Welfare schemes are not sustainable: Welfare programs and government handouts have not always been sustainable. Government is a continuum. The APC-led overnment will not occupy the federal seat for ever, the next administration may jettison the scheme and will terribly affect the school children who were 'bought' with a plate of rice to attend classes. It may (for now) serve as an incentive for the children to go to school, but once the food is off the table, the classes are out of their minds. Aside pulling the economy down, some state governments have attempted school feeding programmes without much success. Lagos, Osun and Kano states, among others, have at one time or another introduced school feeding scheme but could not sustain it with the programme always bogged down by poor funding & poor logistics.
A recent case in Kaduna state where students returned home after taking the free meals is an indication of a jeopardized programme.
4. Self enrichment & Breeding Corruption: This cannot be exempted from the Home-grown School Feeding Programme. It is a quick avenue to wealth for some persons in government, with no proper measures in place to check this. The recent disappearance of 71 trailers of rice and other grains meant for the Internally Displaced persons in Adamawa state is a cause for concern and may repeat itself with the school feeding scheme.
5. We have been here before: The idea of school feeding programme is not altogether new. Both the Federal and some state governments tinkered with the idea in the past without much success. For example, in 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched what he called a home-grown school feeding programme aimed at improving the nutritional intake of at least 25 million children of school age.
Obasanjo boasted then that “Nigeria is making a statement that it cares about her children and the future of the nation.” He noted that the programme would not only increase school enrolment and completion rates of children, particularly, in rural communities and urban neighbourhoods, but also stimulate local food production and boost the income of farmers. Unfortunately, the programme hardly saw the light of the day as it simply fizzled away.
-----
Federal Government's Free School Feeding Scheme may have been a demonstration of its commitment to tackling the rot in Nigeria’s education system from the root coupled with the abject poverty wreaking havoc in most families who can barely afford one meal a day, but better solutions to issues should be to invest in education – calling on key players to steer its affairs, and not carrying more than our economic capacity.