School Feeding Programme: Nasarawa rated best supportive state, as 349 ghost schools uncovered
Story from Ibraheem Hamza MUHAMMAD, Lafia
The enumeration committee of the federal government homegrown feeding programme for public primary schools has rated Nasarawa State as the best supportive state in the country with the team in the state also rated the best in the country.
The team leader of the committee and Adviser to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Malam Abdullahi Usman, disclosed this when he led the members of the committee on a courtesy call on Governor Abdullahi Sule, at the Government House, on Thursday.
Malam Usman said that even though he is not comparing the performance of state governors on the programme, but having visited several states, Nasarawa emerged as the best state where the team received the support and cooperation of the government, without which they wouldn’t have been able to achieve what was achieved.
He said the team was at the government house to brief the governor on the line of activities heralding the second phase of the enumeration process, where the team is expected to enrol more primary school pupils that have come of age.
“The reason why we are here is that the exercise is still a continuous one, like the continuous voter registration of INEC. Because every year people come of age. In our case here, our target population is the primary one to three of only government-owned schools. But every year classes change,” he stated.
The enumeration committee team leader added that the committee will perform the task of vetting new intakes into primary one, while also removing primary three pupils who are moving to primary four which is outside the catchment area of the programme.
Malam Usman also pointed out that even the entire coverage of schools earmarked to benefit from the scheme was not one hundred per cent, as such the committee will equally enumerate all the schools yet to be visited.
He however took time to explain to the governor how the handiwork of unscrupulous officials nearly denied the state from enjoying the social intervention by the federal government.
According to him, through the support and cooperation of the governor, the committee was able to uncover certain irregularities regarding the total number of schools initially captured to benefit from the national homegrown feeding programme.
Malam Usman disclosed that at the beginning of the programme, before the coming of Engineer Sule’s administration, 1,203 public primary schools were captured as benefiting schools but after due process of vetting, the committee discovered that 349 of such schools were ghosted schools, with some officials pocketing the money meant for feeding these schools.
He said following the discovery, top ministry officials in Abuja called for the removal of Nasarawa State from the scheme but the decision was rejected in order not to punish the poor children that would benefit from the scheme.
Usman said however that two key officials of the programme in Nasarawa; the state programme officer, as well as the consultant, were suspended and replaced.
He used the opportunity of the visit to appreciate all relevant stakeholders such as the National Orientation Agency (NOA), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), National Bureau for Statistics (NBS), and state ministry of education, amongst others, for making the work of the committee a success in Nasarawa State.
Usman particularly commended the governor for his cooperation and support while also recognising the contribution of the state focal person, Honourable Imran Usman Jibrin, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor on Humanitarian Services.
Responding, Nasarawa State Governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, said it was not surprising that the state is being recognised as the best in terms of support and cooperation for the national home-grown school feeding programme.
Engineer Sule said it wouldn’t have been otherwise considering that he is both a member of the steering committee of the poverty reduction and growth strategy of the federal government, where he is representing the North Central governors and the technical committee of the same committee, representing governors from the 36 states.
The governor recalled the last meeting of the committee where President Muhammadu Buhari devoted an additional N44 billion to be allocated to the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, for expanding the school feeding programme.
“Mr President is looking forward to ensuring that we expand the school feeding program. I am happy that we are doing well. If any state should be doing well and I am not doing well, we are in trouble,” he stated.
Commenting on the criminal activities of the suspended officials, Engineer Sule described their act as double jeopardy.
He lamented that while there are over 1,400 public primary schools in the state, these greedy officials short-changed the state by registering 349 non-existing schools, pocketing the money meant to feed the pupils while also denying the genuine schools from being captured in the programme.
“It’s not that we don’t have 1,200 schools, the 800 and something they presented were the ones you verified, and the other ones were the duplications. The duplications were the ones the criminals were making money from. But in reality, denying the other schools that would have been benefitting from it. That was why I said it was double jeopardy,” Engineer Sule explained.
The governor used the opportunity to call on the new members of the committee to understand that if they misappropriate money meant to feed poor children, they would pay badly for it, stressing that they should do their best to be on the safe side.
“I am begging you in the name of God, that these children, a lot of them Mr President have approved their payment, mainly because they can’t feed themselves.
“A lot of them come from homes where they don’t have the opportunity for breakfast. Now Mr President said give them the breakfast and you steal the money and deny them of the breakfast, and you think God will allow you to go free?” the Governor queried.
Engineer Sule said he gladly supported the enumeration team and other officials from Abuja to investigate the malfeasance and to sanction the erring officials.
He used the opportunity to appreciate the team in the state led by Malam Abdullahi Usman, as well as the state focal person for the programme, Honourable Imran Usman Jibrin, for the wonderful job they are doing to make the programme a success.
In his remarks, Imran Usman Jibrin, the SSA on Humanitarian Affairs to the Governor and focal person of the programme, thanked Governor Sule and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs for the support they have been rendering to the smooth flow of the programme in Nasarawa.
