The Education Secretary of a
Local Government Area in the state was suspended by the Kaduna State government for circumventing
the process of payment of vendors engaged in feeding pupils.
The
state’s Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Dr Shehu
Adamu made this known Saturday in Kaduna while giving updates to newsmen
on the implementation of state’s free feeding programme for school
children.
“Based on our arrangement, the monies for the vendors
would be deposited weekly in banks where each of the vendors’
cooperative societies opened account.
“The
heads of the cooperative societies will thereafter access the money and
distribute same to each vendor accordingly, based on the number of
pupils expected to feed in a week, at N50 per plate.
“But it was
alleged that the Education Secretary in question gathered all the heads
of the Cooperative Societies within the local government in his office.
“He
collected the monies from them and was personally sharing it to the
vendors, extending up to the middle of Monday night, thereby affecting
the implementation of the programme in his local government area.
“That
is not his responsibility, and therefore, he is suspended to enable the
ministry carry out full investigation into the matter, “Adamu said.
The
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gov Nasiru El-Rufai had on
Jan. 18, inaugurated a Free Feeding programme to provide one meal per
day to 1.5 million pupils in over 4,000 public primary schools in the
state.
However, the programme had faced some challenges in the
first week of implementation in some Local Government Areas due to the
inability of vendors to access the funds.
Adamu however assured
that all the hitches recorded during the first week of the
implementation of the programme were being addressed and appealed for
the cooperation of all stakeholders
He equally said that the
ministry also received reports that some of the heads of cooperative
societies collected the monies and gave the vendors in bits, and in some
cases, to their friends instead of the vendors.
He said that some of the women involved were being investigation and would be charged to court if necessary.
He
said every pupil was expected to bring a plate from home and a bottle
of water as the programme did not make provisions for drinking water.
“But
we learnt that some of the pupils, instead of coming with plate from
home, collect the food in polythene bags; this is unacceptable and
should stop forthwith.
“Therefore, parents must ensure that they
provide a plate and drinking water to their wards before sending them to
school,’’ he said.
The commissioner further warned teachers to
desist from forcing the children to buy plastic plates being sold in the
schools, adding that any teacher caught would be penalised.
Credit: Daily Post
He
urged the school-based management committees, comprising parents and
notable community leaders, as well as Parents/Teachers Association, to
assist in monitoring to ensure the success of the programme. (NAN)
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