THE main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has accused the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari of using Nigerian school children as cover to loot N679 million daily through the school feeding programme.
Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the party stated this in an interview published by The Punch.
Ologbondiyan noted that the PDP has always maintained that the school feeding programme by Muhammadu Buhari administration is a ‘monumental scam’.
“We have always said the whole school feeding programme as being carried out by this administration is a monumental scam,” he said.
According to him, the government and agencies handling the school feeding programme have refused to give adequate accounts about it.
Ologbondiyan argued that “it should beat anybody’s imagination that pupils are at home, in their parent’s houses, and the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Faruq, is telling Nigerians that they are taking over the functions of parents by feeding school pupils right in their parents’ homes.”
“We are also being told that they are spending unbelievable sums of money on this programme.”
He added that the programme was designed by corrupt leaders in the All Progressive Congress (APC) to siphon public funds.
“The whole school feeding scam is a scheme designed by corrupt leaders of the APC in cahoots with some elements in the Presidency to siphon N13.5bn public funds to finance their wasteful lifestyles,” he added.
He noted that the government has failed to reveal to taxpayers how much is exactly being spent on the programme.
The PDP spokesperson wondered why the National Assembly has refused to ask relevant questions from the ministry concerning the programme.
“I do not understand why the National Assembly is not asking the relevant questions about claims that such humongous amount of money is being spent by a ministry on feeding children in their various constituencies without their inputs, I really can’t comprehend,” Ologbondiyan said.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94