Free feeding: Senator slams Governor El-Rufai
28th Jan. 2016
The Kaduna state government as led by Governor Nasir El-Rufai has been criticized over its recently introduced free feeding program.
Senator Danjuma Laah, berated the El-Rufai-led government for the recent free feeding program introduced for the 1.8 million primary school pupils of Kaduna state at N50 per meal.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator representing Kaduna south senatorial zone, described the project as a deliberate attempt by Governor El-Rufai to score curious political points.
Laah, who is the only member of the Senate elected on the platform of the PDP in the northwest zone, made his assertion in a statement he signed in Kaduna.
According to The Vanguard, the lawmaker debated hat the sum of N90 million per day or N450 million per week gulped to feed pupils could have been used to improve the quality and quantity of school infrastructure and teaching aids in the state.
He said: “I believe that is time we tell ourselves the truth irrespective of party, if elected leaders like me really mean well for Kaduna state. I am sticking to the interest of the state and I stand against how our common wealth is being used wrongly in the state in the name of feeding 1.8 million primary school children every day.”
“If Kaduna state government claims that it is using N50 to feed every child, that means that each day the state spends N90 million per day, N450 million per week and N1.8 billion will be spend in a month.
“Though the government is claiming that it going to get assistance from the Federal government on the programme, it does not make sense that a state that gets a mere N3.5 billion from the federation account each month and, has a wage bill about N2.2 billion per month could use N1.8 billion to feed kids that should be fed by their parents,” Laah opined.
Governor El Rufai had explained on Monday, January 18, that the school feeding programme will provide one meal per day to 1.5 million pupils in public primary schools. He added that the scheme is an unprecedented undertaking in the state, one that the state government solemnly pledged to do during their campaigns.
Meanwhile, barely six days after the launch of the school free feeding exercise in Kaduna state, a senior education official in Zaria local government has been suspended. The suspension follows allegations of alleged misconduct with money for vendors.
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