By INWALOMHE DONALD
THE Aregbesola administration has completely overhauled the Osun State O-MEALS school-feeding programme launched on April 30, 2012 and being implemented in all the 1,378 public primary schools in the state till date. The government endorsed and signed the Osun Elementary School Feeding Transition Strategy Plan with representatives of the Board of Partnership for Child Development (PCD), Imperial College, London, on November 22, 2012. Of the 13 original pilots, the State of Osun is the only state currently implementing the programme. But the government has since 2012 redesigned and scaled up the programme considerably.
The Osun State HGSFHP, now known as Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O-MEALS), commenced as a pilot programme of the Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP) introduced through the Universal Basic Education (UBE) 2004 Act. The programme was designed to provide a minimum of one meal a day to each primary school pupil.
Representatives of various states in Nigeria, at the end of a three-day study of the Osun State school feeding programme, vowed to use the template set by the state. They concluded that the Osun State Government had set a good template for the implementation of the nationwide school feeding programme.
Speaker after speaker commended the governor of the state for identifying school feeding as one huge opportunity for social welfare and an instrument of economic strength for Nigeria.
The coordinator of the National Home Grown School Feeding programme, Abimbola Adesanya, had led to Osun State, a team which came to understudy the Osun State school feeding programme, O’ Meal. Adesanya commended the state for what she described as the ingenious way it has moved the programme from what it was originally to an enviable one. She said: “National Home Grown School Feeding programme is part of Federal Government’s effort to
uplift the indigent out of poverty in the country.”
The representative of Oyo State, Folashade Adekunle, also commended the programme and expressed the
hope that it would be replicated in her state.
Governor Aregbesola, on his part, averred that if the Federal Government succeeds in introducing and sustaining the Home Grown School Feeding programme, the country’s economy will be on the way to total recovery. He stated that if the feeding programme had been introduced a decade ago by successive governments, the horrendous killing and destruction the country is witnessing today in the North East would not have arisen. The O’Meal scheme, he explained, is an all-inclusive programme which is impacting on all
stakeholders in Osun.
There is no debating the fact that with the declining standard of education in Nigeria, and the nation’s 10 million or so out-of-school children, it has become necessary to do whatever is required to encourage all children to go to school. This is more so at a time that increasing financial difficulties are making it difficult for many parents to properly feed and educate their children. When teachers are properly trained, schools are properly equipped and children have the hope of one good meal a day, they will be more inclined to remain in school.
The importance of nutrition in both physical and mental development is also widely acknowledged. A well fed child is able to concentrate better in school is able to learn much more. He is also much healthier and has few days away from school on account of illnesses.
The feeding of school children in Nigeria is not impossible. Nigeria, some decades ago, provided milk for schoolchildren. Even the Lagos State government, until this day also provides sachets of milk for its schoolchildren. It is therefore possible to undertake this initiative that will provide thousands of jobs for the farmers, caterers, cleaners etc that will be involved in the project. I commend the feeding of schoolchildren to all state governments. It is rather disheartening to learn that many of them are shying away from counterpart funding of the Federal Government’s plan for school feeding. This should not be so. The task of ensuring that all children of school age remain in school belongs to all tiers of government because as expensive as such investment on Nigeria may be seen, neglecting these children and doing nothing to ensure that they get a good education will not bode well for the nation. They may, indeed, end up as miscreants as they wander about the streets during school hours instead of staying in school and facing their studies.
Let the Federal Government base its proposed school
feeding scheme on the Osun State model and Nigerian children will be better for it. Governor Aregbesola has said that the success of the programme in the state is based on the sheer will power of the state government. According to him,
“If this kind of programme had been embraced a decade ago, the kind of heinous crime Boko Haram is unleashing on the country wouldn’t have been heard off.” The Deputy Governor of Osun State, Titi Laoye- Tomori, also said that the feeding programme has eradicated the out-of-school syndrome in the state and has been increasing school enrollment significantly at the elementary level.
Laoye-Tomori, who is also the Commissioner for Education, said the O’Meal is a multi-sectoral programme involving many stakeholders, which informs the success being recorded. She said the school feeding programme is a win-win situation for all the people involved. “Since the introduction of the programme, enrollment has jumped significantly and out-of-school syndrome has been mitigated.” We can achieve a similar feat at the national level and save our country from the menace of social miscreants in future.
*Inwalomhe Donald, a public affairs analyst writes from Benin City ([email protected])