The biggest case to be resolved in Nigeria is this: The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, and her ministry, spent about N500 million on feeding schoolchildren in Abuja, Ogun and Lagos states, during last year’s COVID-19 lockdown (May 14 – July 6, 2020).
I have been following this case. As I write, the ministry is yet to release the names of the schools which benefited; that should not be classified. At least, it would be great to know how the schools and pupils got waivers, in Lagos, for this special feeding. As they release the names of the schools, it would be good to know the 5,000 cooks which were engaged for the 20-day program.
Get me right, the minister could have fed those kids under lockdown – my point is that she has to explain since she is spending Nigeria’s money. Madam minister, show us the records – names of schools, the cooks, dates, etc. (Premium Times has a deep dive into this)
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The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, has insisted that her ministry spent over N500 million on feeding schoolchildren in two states and Abuja during last year’s COVID-19 lockdown.
There are, however, modifications to some details – figures and the nature of food distributed – which the minister was quoted to have provided concerning the programme last year.
While responding to public scepticism questioning the transparency of the social intervention programme at a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 last August, Ms Farouq was quoted as saying that N523,273,800 was spent to feed pupils in Ogun and Lagos states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, between May 14, and July 6, 2020.
But in a court document which was filed on her behalf at the Federal High Court in Abuja on January 26, 2021, an official of her ministry stated that “the 1st respondent (the minister) spent N535,873,800 on 127,789 households as against the N523,273,800 on 124,589 households claimed by the applicant.”
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Under lockdown, they were cooking and sending the meals to the kids’ homes, with vehicles or walking to the homes? Do they also feed the kids during holidays? The kids were fed at home, without giving them classroom work, so what exactly was the purpose of the feeding, keeping them away from hunger? Did they also feed other kids in those communities, since they were that generous?
This is the only area our brilliance is at its supreme level: squandering and looting any money ever budgeted, even when there’s no need to spend.
Leadership isn’t borrowing money to construct roads or railways, before the lazy brains will come out from their cocoons to lecture us on how this administration has been better than others, I understand that there are bots regularly sent to this page from whatever high offices in the land.
They steal with impunity, and still shamelessly find ways to defend the indefensible, and they think they are smart; foolish people always think they are the smartest, it has always been that way.
Next scandal please, it never ends.