It has been decided by the Niger State House of Assembly to set up a seven-member ad-hoc committee to investigate the difficulties encountered in the administration of the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme in the state.

This followed allegations made by Barrister Amina Gua’ar, Niger state Focal Person for the School Feeding Program, that schoolchildren were being defrauded by chefs and vendors in the feeding program when she went before the House to explain why schoolchildren in the state were being underfed.

In the past, the Focal Person was accused by Lawmakers of giving the students expired rice and only serving them half an egg instead of a full egg, among other things.

She added that her staff was doing everything it could to enhance the quality of the food given to the students, but that the majority of the cooks and caterers were cheating the students.

Several cooks and other vendors who were involved in the situation, according to the Focal Person, have already been turned over to the Department of State Security Service (DSS), for questioning.

She said, “We have 5,179 cooks. We have bad eggs amongst them. We have cause to report them to the DSS. About 20 of them were arrested. In fact, some of them are in the hands of the DSS. This is as a result of the intense monitoring by my office.

“We used to give out three crates of eggs but we discovered that at the end only one and a half were used. Infact, anytime we have to give yam porridge, we used to give out 30 tubers of yam, but in the end, only half of it was being used. You can see how these pupils were shortchanged.”

In addition, the Focal Person stated that the program has engaged over 14,000 people, with the goal of increasing the value chain and improving the economy of farmers in the state in the near future.

The committee is tasked to submit its report to the House of Representatives in two weeks.