,,,,as Nasarawa gets global recognition in school feeding programme
By David Okpashi
Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State says his administration is willing to support the ongoing reforms of the Federal Government’s school feeding programme geared towards evacuating the almajirai, children with disabilities, children living in IDP camps off the street and return them to school.
Governor Sule made this known in Nasarawa state government lodge,Abuja on Friday when he hosted the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Schools Feeding Programme, Yetunde Adeniji on a familiarisation.
The Governor promised to personally support the initiative that would see to the evacuation of the almajiri off the streets and returning them to formal school.
He noted that the step taken by the federal government to embark on the reforms would see to the inclusion of the Almajiri, children with disabilities and children living in IDP camps under the school feeding programme.
“In fact, at one point, I started appearing on national television to discuss about the almajiri and we worked very hard together with the northern governors and started returning some of the almajiri to their original states so that we can be able to return them to their parents, so that their parents would take care of their responsibility.
“It is only in northern Nigeria that we are offering traditional Quranic schools,but today, education is widespread. Every state you go, every major town you visit, you will find people who are learned and can teach these children. The ideal thing is for these children to attend Quranic schools in their home towns from their parents houses. These children need to spend time with their parents,” he stated.
“You have really touched an area of great interest to me. If you can pick it, you just tell me how I can be of help and you will find me doing my best there, including my personal support. I’m always upset whenever I came across minors in tattered clothes roaming the streets barefooted”, Sule stated.
On the recognition accorded Nasarawa State in Paris, France, on the school feeding programme, Governor Sule said it was not surprising,considering that the state was one of the first places where the school feeding programme started in Nigeria.
“I think it was during Abdullahi Adamu’s era that something like that was done in Lafia. We came and discovered a few areas of concern when I came in. Because some people were taking advantage of the school feeding programme and are doing other things they were not supposed to do.
“At one point, I had to work with the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Welfare to even get rid of some of the people working in Nasarawa State that were doing things not in order,” he added.
The Governor commended President Bola Tinubu for selecting Yetunde Adeniji as his SSA on School Feeding Programme,appreciated the Federal Government, all the donor agencies and NGOs for giving recognition to Nasarawa State.
Earlier, Adeniji had disclosed the resolve of President Bola Tinubu to continue with the school feeding programme initiated by the past regime, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of his administration, where all children in the country would have access to quality meals and would be taken off the streets.
The SSA said she was in Nasarawa State recently because the state received recognition at the first global meeting of the School Meals Coalition, in Paris, where Loko Local Government Area received a standing ovation as one of the first local government to embrace the school feeding programme.
She added that under her watch, certain lapses were discovered in the initial programme which saw to the decision of the Tinubu administration to include the almajiri children with disabilities and children living in IDP camps in the school feeding programme.
“All of those haven’t been captured yet. Under my office, we are coming together with some NGOs and donor agencies to see how we can cover that demograph. We have been talking to donor partners and NGOs and they have been on board trying to see how we can feed these cadre with a view to taking them off the streets and bringing them back to the classrooms,” the SSA stated.
Adeniji announced that her office was embarking on a programme where they can start off with 5, 000 children, before moving to 50, 000 and then 100, 000, geared towards taking these children from wherever they are into classrooms.
“Very soon, we will come to the state to meet up with the stakeholders,to see how we can first obtain data on these children and see how we would commence feeding them. We plan to do it for 75 days. After that and with the momentum and feedback, we want to see if we can increase the number of days. It’s in this area that we need your support and partnership,” she said.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
