Some community leaders in Enugu State have expressed worry over the implementation of the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in the state.

They expressed their dissatisfaction during the Project Tracking Reports of some Federal Government intervention programmes across the three senatorial zones of the state.

The NHGSFP is a government led N70 per day school feeding programme that aims to improve the health and educational outcomes of public primary school pupil

The programme uses farm produce locally grown by smallholder farmers to provide children nutritious mid-day meals on every school day.

However, reports by project tracking groups sponsored by Divine Era Development and Social Rights Initiatives (DEDSRI) in four selected local government areas of the state faulted the progress of the programme.

The pilot local government areas are Nkanu West, Udi, Igboeze North and Igboeze South.

The Chairman of the Project Tracking Committee in Nkanu West Local Government Area, Mr Nick Nnamchi, said that the implementation of the programme in the area lacked adequate supervision.

Nnamchi said that the committee found out that many of the primary schools in the area were excluded from the programme.

“Salaries of serving vendors are not paid regularly and whenever this happens, they do not cook for the pupils for that period,” he said.

One of the food vendors in the area who pleaded anonymity, said that their contract sum had been reduced which in turn had led to irregularity in the supply of meals to the school children.

The source that they were now paid between N80,000 and N90,000 per month compared to the initial N120,000 monthly payment.

In Igboeze South Local Government Area, the Project Tracking Committee Chairman, Mr James Okeanya, said that out of the 44 primary schools in the area, only 33 were benefitting from the programme.

Okeanya said that over 70 per cent of the schools benefitting from the programme in the area had problems ranging from poor food quality and irregularity in supply of food to the pupils.

“A teacher in one of the schools told us that the pupils sometimes develop diarrhea after eating the food.

“We found out that most of the vendors who are expected to supply food for 20 days in a month end up supplying for 10 days,” Okeanya said.

Also, the Chairman of the Project Tracking Committee in Igboeze North Local Government Area, Mr Onuche Titus, described the implementation of the programme in the area as an embarrassment.

Onuche said that most of the vendors were not supplying food to the pupils even after getting their payment.

He called on the state government to set up a monitoring team to ensure that funds released by the Federal Government for the programme did not end up in private pockets. (Daily Independent)

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