School feeding Programme: Food vendors lament decrease in subvention

Food vendors, providing children meals under the Social Investment Programmes (SIP) Home Grown School Feeding Programme, have decried the  reduction of their monthly subvention from N80,000 to N40,000 in Bauchi State.

Leader of vendors, Hadiza Shehu Ladan, disclosed this during a Town Hall meeting organized by the Bauchi state government in collaboration with the Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Investment Programmes, held in Bauchi.

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Hadiza explained that the money given to vendors by officials of the Social Investment Programmes to prepare the meals was grossly inadequate. “Our members have directed me to beg the Chairman Senate Committee on Social Investment Programmes to deliver our pleas to Mr President that the prices of commodities have increased in the market and beg him to increase the money because what we are receiving now  is very low  to meet up the required quantity and quality for the children.

“In the past, we use to receive between N75,000 to N80,000 to provide meals of 80 pupils for 20 days but the money has been reduced to N40,000. We are pleading to the distinguish senator to help us inform the President of our predicament and increase the money by returning to the previous payment so that both the children and vendors can benefit.

Majority of the vendors are widows who depend on the little profit to feed their orphans,” she said.

Speaking at the meeting, An scholar and  Imam of a Jummaat Mosque in Bauchi, Dr Abubakar Zubairu Madaki, has asked Federal Government to allocate certain slots of the Special Investment Programme to religious and opinion leaders to compliment their efforts to assisting government in enlightening the public.

The State Focal Person on Social Investment Programmes and Special Adviser to the Governor on (SIP), Hajiya Amina, declared that no pupil was fed during the four months of COVID-19 pandemic induced holidays.

Katagum said: “In Bauchi state, 445,789 school children, 7,584 women and 3,000 small farmers had benefited from the programme as at 31st March 2020. School enrollment had increased as a result of the programme. About N624,230,600 comes into the state monthly for feeding of the school children during sessions.”

In his remark, , Senator Lawal Gumau, Chairman, Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Investment Programme said that the committee was in Bauchi and would visit some other states to conduct oversight function and assured that the social investment program would be extended to farmers in 2021 and advised beneficiaries to invest wisely as a plan to be self-reliant before exiting after two years.