By Modupe Seriboh
Ibadan – Mrs Folashade Adekunle, the Programme Manager of the Home Grown School Feeding Programme in Oyo State, says the Federal Government is committed to addressing emerging challenges facing the initiative.
She told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Ibadan that the discrepancies in enrolment figures of pupils and other logistic challenges had been noted and would be resolved to ensure a hitch-free implementation of the programme.
NAN reports that the feeding programme had been trailed by some challenges bordering on discrepancies in enrolment figure as well as quantity and quality of food served by some food vendors.
Adekunle, however, said that government had already envisaged some of the challenges and was working hard to resolve them soon.
NAN recalls that the programme was flagged-off in the state on Friday with 168,450 pupils from public primary school s as beneficiaries.
NAN also reports that 2,578 food vendors were enrolled for the feeding programme in 2,408 schools in the state.
A NAN correspondent, who monitored the implementation of the programme, reports that there were differences in enrolment figures, with many schools having more pupils than the provisions made to feed them.
Some food vendors urged government to increase the feeding fee from N70 to N150 per pupil due to the economic situation in the country.
Some of the schools visited included, The People’s Primary School, Ring Road, Baptist Primary School 1 and 2, Oke Ado, Ibadan Municipal Government Basic School, Oke Ado, all in Ibadan metropolis.
Others were St James’s Cathedral School, Oke Bola and St Leo Catholic School 1 and 2 , Priya Challenge, Ibadan.
