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WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE HOMEGROWN FEEDING PROGRAMME? (OGUN STATE)

I was very fascinated when I got to find out about the homegrown feeding programme in Ogun State which was organized in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation. The mainstream media went bizarre with the information as several newspapers reported the impacts of the feeding programme on schools in Ogun state. Many schools which had previously accounted for a high rate of dropouts and absenteeism started reporting issues of congestion and overflow of students due to the daily meals they now receive from the feeding programme.

This was a programme I was fascinated about and I couldn’t wait to see the impacts with my own eyes but by 2021 when I arrived in Ogun State, I was told that the programme had packed up. Articles I saw online mentioned that some individuals were receiving funds but not executing their end of the bargain making it impossible for the programme to continue, so according to news reports, the programme was suspended so that these issues would be addressed. Well, unfortunately, these issues are still lingering till date.

Accountability board for the homegrown feeding programme

Asking a few questions about the programme, I was told that food vendors still come around every once in a while to give children meals. When we asked one of the food vendors we finally saw in our school, she told us that they only come when they have been given the money for food. If they are not funded she doesn’t come. Sometimes she spends many weeks without showing up and nobody says or does anything about it. I also got to understand that the feeding programme only covered the nursery classes up to primary 3 thereabouts and for someone who teaches primary 4 and 5 I can say that we don’t have lesser hungry children in these classes, I understand that it may feel like the children in primary four or five would be able to handle hunger better than the ones in nursery classes but at the end of the day, they are all hungry children.

There are a lot of questions that need answers: Is the feeding programme suspended or is still going on? If it is still going on, why do we have vendors showing up once in a while? Are there people holding funds that are to be released for these people to do their jobs and some people are holding on to them?

 

 

 

Comments

  1. Anonymous10 March 2023 at 21:09

    Home grown food is one program in ogun state that I don't like at all.
    Their inconsistency and poor food presentation and quantity, quality also is nothing to write home about.
    I think the program should pack up if they can't continue than work like a SCAM

    ReplyDelete

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