By Daud Olatunji

After so much waiting for  the Federal Government to release  fund for the commencement of the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Ogun state eventually kicked-started its programme with 874 primary schools across the state.

This scheme, according to the World Bank; ‘’is a targeted social safety net that provides both educational and health benefits to the most vulnerable children, thereby increasing enrollment rates, reducing absenteeism, and improving food security at the household level.”

The Federal Government had failed to commence the programme at the beginning of the academic session in September 2016 as promised.

School feeding

The programme, which was formally inaugurated on June 9, 2016 by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, is part of the Social Investment Plans of the present administration for which N500bn has been budgeted for in the 2016 Appropriation Act.

Vanguard gathered that the Federal Government, through the national manager of the programme, Abimbola Adesanmi, had in July 2016 said the government would commence the scheme in September last year when schools resumed, with 5.5 million pupils across the country.

But, eventually, the programme kick -started in some states last year while others began the scheme this year.

Ogun State was part of those states that chose this year to kick -start the scheme which plans to absorb about three thousand food vendors across the state.

The Special adviser and special project/ programme manager , Tinuola Shopeju explained “ in Ogun state, we have 1,554 schools, but in the first batch we are kicking off with are 874 schools with the number of students therein and others will add on as soon as we finish the documentation of the vendors in the next two weeks.

“For monitoring and evaluation, we have a robust plan and is being done by functionaries of the state government, Local governments and by the parents Teachers Association. we are very ready to monitor.”

In his remarks, the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun explained that his government was planning to fight problem of absenteeism in schools with Federal Government free meals scheme.

The governor also disclosed that his government would use the home grown school feeding programme to eradicate poverty and boost employment generation.

Amosun, who was represented by the deputy governor of the state, Chief (Mrs.) Yetunde Onanuga said that Education is placed at first of the cardinal programmes of his administration.

He added that the programme will enrol about 2,968 women as food vendors.

He said, “The School Feeding Programme will provide a hot nutritionally balanced meal to every in primary one to three in our public schools every school day.

“We also expect that there will be improved school performance and improved health status of the pupils benefiting from the programme.

“This will lead to a further boost in the enrolment figure in all our schools. Added to this, we envisage a greater school retention record for our pupils and a reduced incidence of absenteeism in schools.

“Of this number, 1,381 vendors are commencing with us today. Other vendors and pupils will be added on as soon as the vendors’ documentation issues are resolved.

“Thus, all our vendors are being equipped with all cooking equipment required to transform them into commercial food caterers.

“There is no doubt, this is an intervention designed to eradicate poverty in our households, as the women will make additional income from taking on catering businesses in their communities on weekends and when schools are off.

“Our belief is that a well-educated citizenry will not only be easy to govern but also be able to initiate plans for personal growth and contribute to societal development.

“No doubt, the most viable avenue available is through Education. This is why we have remained unwaveringly committed to the development of our administrations annual budget to education since 2011” She said.

However, Vanguard’s findings have shown that contrary to the wide belief that home grown scheme would provide jobs for the food vendors in the state, it rather sent some vendors that had been making their earns means out of the job.

Further findings showed that the commencement of the free meal, otherwise called Ogun meals, has threatened the jobs of some existing food vendors in about two thousand schools marked for the exercise.

It was a mixed reaction as vendors who have been selling food in the schools before the commencement of the scheme told newsmen that the government has eased them out of the project to pave way for politicians candidates .

A vendor, who identified herself as Mrs Taiwo Onagbide expressed her displeasure with the decision of the government to ease them out of the feeding programme as against the initial plan.

She said, “When the programme was about to start, they called all of us and we heeded to their calls on several occasions but at a point we were all told to converge at Ake in Abeokuta, where they told us that, we vendors who have been selling food in the schools before the commencement of the scheme would not be allowed to partake in the’ Ogun meal project’.

“They told us that the job was giving to politicians and not ‘just anybody’. We were also told that the government will be feeding pupils between Primary one an three and as such we old vendors can keep selling to the pupils with our money the way we have been doing before now.

“But honestly, we are disturbed before they eventually told us that we would not benefit from the Ogun meal feeding scheme. Much as we kept going to Owode for meetings whenever we were called upon, we also kept spending money.

“For us we are not politicians, we have surrendered all to God, since there is nothing we can do to the government.

“For instance, today we were not told that they will be coming to feed the pupils today and this act has affected our business for today.”

“Since they know they will not give the job to us they shouldn’t have wasted our time and money on transportation and other things”, she said.

These old food vendors however, got a succour as the government only focuses on primary one to three schools while primary four to six classes were left for them.

While sample the opinions from some stakeholders who include Parents and Teachers, they advised the government to consider the food vendors that had been serving the pupils food before the scheme.

According to a parent, the government’s scheme is commendable and must be all supported to ensure it does not fail. However, the government must be sincere with the people and ensure interest us taken care of.

Also speaking with Vanguard, a teacher who pleaded anonymity said, she was sceptical with the scheme on its sustainability.