School Feeding Programme: NISER urges legal, policy framework
NAN-H-32
Education
By Chidinma Ewunonu-Aluko
Ibadan, Oct.10, 2017 (NAN) The Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, has urged the Federal Government to put in place legal and policy framework to guide implementation of the School Feeding Programme (SFP)
Mr Audu Wadinga of the institute’s Social and Governance Policy Research Department (SGPRD) made the call at a seminar on prospects, challenges of the SFP in Ibadan on Tuesday.
Wadinga stressed the need for effective sustainability plan and monitoring system for corruption-free implementation of the country’s School Feeding Programme (SFP).
He said Federal and state governments should jointly fund the programme with some levels of community and private sector participation to ensure sustainability of the programme.
The Research Fellow emphasised that mainstreaming SFP into the existing national and sub-national development policy frameworks should be a priority in the country.
“Federal and states, through Ministries of Education, should take advantage of the numerous aid agencies to enhance sustainability.
“States should mainstream SFP funding into their budget process and ensure timely payment of vendors,” he said.
Wadinga also remarked that the SFP hold the keys for enhancing school enrolment, health and learning capacity of primary school children in Nigeria.
According to him, the launching of the SFP collapsed in 2005 due to faulty design, implementation and sustainability issues.
He added that the renewed interest by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration motivated his department to carry out the study on the programme to avoid pitfalls of the 2005 Home Grown SFP.
Earlier, the Chairman of the occasion, Mr Kola Young, noted that SFP helped in poverty reduction, employment generation and boosted school enrolment as parents were willing to bring their wards, especially in the North.
Young, also the Osun State Commissioner for Education, disclosed that the SFP succeeded in the state because it is keyed into Gov. Rauf Aregbesola’s six-point integral action plans.
He urged well meaning Nigerians to join the government and support the programme because of its importance.
Also, the NISER Director-General, Dr Folarin Gbadebo-Smith, represented by Prof. Soji Adesanya, the institute’s Director of Economic Policy Research Department, said a nation without knowledge was bound to lack behind.
He thanked the stakeholders and the chairman for gracing the occasion. (NAN)
CC/OFN/AFA
Edited by Felix Nwadioha/Felix Ajide