ICPC, DSS, Others Monitored N13bn Home School Feeding During Lockdown – FG

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has revealed that the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, (NHGSFP) during the lockdown was monitored by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, the Department of State Services and the World Food Programme.

Dr Dotun Adebayo, the Special Adviser to the President on the School Feeding Programme, noted that the agencies were invited to monitor the efficiency of the distribution.

The SA to President Buhari further stated that the agencies were invited due to the condemnation of the plan by some education experts and public analysts, he added that their presence would ensure transparency in the process.

Adebayo stated this while speaking in Abuja at a virtual meeting of stakeholders on the COVID-19 Funds Management and Monitoring organised by the ICPC.

In the presentation titled, ‘Delivering a transparent food ration distribution,’Adebayo said, “To prevent slides to old habits during the food ration distribution, we have; one, validation of items across all the distribution centres; two, voucher collection process; three, the invitation of third party monitors and agencies. These are the WFP, Civil Society Organisations, ICPC, DSS, and others.

“On our budget, we normally expend ₦1,400 per child per 20 days when schools are open. Fortunately, we had existing funds to cover a 20-day cycle in April for 35 states before schools were closed due to the COVID lockdown.”

“We worked within the existing budget of the programme to come up with a food ration package of a total cost of ₦4,200 per household on the presumption of an average of three children per household. Our targeted number of households is 3,131,971 households.”

Adebayo revealed that the total cost of the home school feeding due the lockdown stands at N13,154,278,200.

He added that the strategy adopted to deliver the food items included targeting and mapping of household with children in public primary school 1 to 3, and providing states with guidelines for procurement, security and distribution.