A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State,According to a statement released by Ibrahim Lawal
SA Media /Publicity that Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo, has described the Federal Government’s National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, NHGSFP, Covid-19, intended to feed school children from their homes, as a dishonest scheme.
Farah Dagogo, who represents Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency, said the determination of the Federal Government to go ahead with the feeding scheme, with schools already shutdown and pupils in the homes of their parents and guardians, smacks of a desperate ploy not only to ‘further rip us off our commonwealth’, but also turn the programme to an epicenter of sleaze.
A statement made available to journalists on Wednesday, the Federal Lawmaker urged the Government to rescind ‘the very unpopular move’ but rather channel the billions already earmarked for the ‘School feeding jamboree’ to the country’s health care sector that is in dire need of attention, and commence studies on the production of vaccines for the cure or prevention of Covid-19.
The Federal Government will on Thursday, formally flag off the School feeding scheme running into billions of naira despite closure of schools in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
” Having gauged the pulse of my constituents and those of others from other Constituencies, I want to strongly urge the Federal Government to have a re-think on the matter of continuing with the Home Grown School Feeding Program now that schools are not in session. Rather than continuing with the program at this time, the funds for the program should be re- channelled to the health sector to strengthen and sustain the fight against COVID-19 pandemic. There is no gain saying the fact that this measure would be more effective and results-oriented than continuing with the school feeding program with the pupils at home.
” The Covid-19 pandemic has not only succeeded in exposing the decay and rot in our health sector, it has also shown that lies and deceit cannot last forever. How do you justify spending billions of naira on a bogus school feeding programme when schools are in lockdown? How does it even sound? Is this not part of the corruption we claim we are fighting? According to Abraham Lincoln ; you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. That’s exactly what is playing out.
” The program could be re-introduced and re-invigorated after the fight against COVID-19 pandemic has been won and things normalized.
” We are in a critical time that requires equally critical execution of policies. If this Government wants the support and respect of Nigerians, it should desist forthwith from policies which could be termed ‘ Scam’. Nigerians are intelligent and see through all these subterfuges that aim to further rip us off our commonwealth. ” he added.
