NEWS: WHY WE STOPPED THE FREE SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME...... EL-RUFAI SPEAKS

NASIR EL-RUFAI

In May 29^th of 2015 when the Kaduna State governor Nasir El Rufai, assumed the mantle of leadership, among his promises to the people of the state, was the “free school feeding programme” for pupils in primary schools in the state and some other promises to the electorates.

All of that has since been discontinued by the APC controlled government in the state following the sad realization that such a huge capital expenditure could be realistic due to its poor finances and clear inability to truly manage the “FSFP”.

Sadly so, many political pundits within and outside the state has changed the name of the All Progressive Congress to “All Promises Cancelled” but with the same acronym; APC.

Is this assertion true? It remains for the government of APC; both at the states and Federal level, to prove Nigerians wrong.

In trying to give a plausible explanation as to why the government had to take the path it chose, Mallam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai in an interview he granted, has said that his administration has halted the “free school feeding programme” in the state.

El-Rufai disclosed that the scheme was stopped due to a lack of funds.

"We were encouraged to start the programme because the office of the Vice President, under the Social Investment Programme, promised to subsidize 60 per cent of the cost of the programme. So, we started spending our money in the expectation of being reimbursed. We have spent, nearly N8 billion on this programme this year and the office of the Vice President is supposed to pay us back in the region of N6 billion to N7 billion.

"Since we made education free, the enrolment in class one was huge. We have not been paid this money. The amount we earmarked for the programme in the 2016 budget has been exhausted. So, we cannot continue with the programme.

"We are expecting the reimbursement from the office of the Vice President. We have been assured over and over that we would be reimbursed. But we didn't think that we had the resources to continue without that reimbursement. We had exhausted what we budgeted for it. We will do well in education generally. I cannot prove it because it takes time before any investment in education matures. But I can give you some statistics to show that we are doing well".