School Feeding: FG’s Explanation Shows Executive Incompetence – ADC

Ololade Adeyanju/

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called on the Federal Government to be more sensitive to the plight of Nigerians and refrain from allocating very scarce resources to unproductive, resource-draining projects, all in the name of welfare.

The ADC, in a statement released on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Yemi Kolapo, frowned at the reported spending of hundreds of millions, daily, on school children’s feeding even when schools remained shut.

The party queried the rationale behind such spending at a time temporary spending increases should be targeted at containing the spread of COVID-19 and mitigating the economic impact of both the pandemic and the fall in international oil prices.

According to Kolapo, the attempt by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouk, to rewrite the absurdity in the minds of Nigerians has further opened up the inadequacies of the current administration in the area of economic management. 

The party stated: “The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouk, as expected, denied reports that the Federal Government was spending N697million, daily, on its school feeding programme. This denial was necessary, considering the heated controversy that trailed the insistence on continuing the project even while schools were shut. 

“Her explanation, though not totally off point, however, revealed the penchant of the All Progressives Congress government for reckless spending even in the most difficult economic situations.”

The ADC argued that the minister’s explanation that the Federal Government was only spending N4,200 per household, monthly, for 3,131, 971 households, was an indirect confirmation of the needless expenditure.

It says, “N4, 200 per month for 3,131,971 households gives a total of N13.15billion monthly, while the daily expenditure comes to N438.5million. 
So, if the N697million daily spending being circulated appears monstrous, is the minister saying that spending N438.5million, in the same vein, is defensible?” 

The ADC noted that the Federal Government could only earn the support of the masses by paying serious attention to economic efficiency in these hard times.

It further says, “Right now, anything other than distributing or allocating very scarce resources to their most valuable uses and minimising/eliminating wastes is not acceptable. 

“The excuse that the programme had to be sustained under a very abnormal situation because vendors had been mobilised and purchases made, paints a picture of lazy thinking mixed with greed. This spending, whether it will now be targeted at the heads of the households or not, is meaningless in its entirety, and an abominable waste of insufficient resources.”

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