Stop Misinformation On Your Failed Public Schools’ Feeding Programme- Osun APC Slams Adeleke
…Says, Govt’s Stated N32m Daily Expenses On Same A Hoa
The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused Governor Ademola Adeleke-led administration in the state of being economical with the truth about its handling of the purported free school feeding programme in public schools, stating that it’s the opposite of what is transpiring in the programme that the state government has been feeding the unsuspecting members of the public.
It would be recalled that the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Kolapo Alimi, few days ago while announcing a forthcoming high-level stakeholders’ conference aimed at allegedly ensuring the sustainability of the school feeding programme, disclosed that the Adeleke government spends N32 million daily on the free meals for the pupils in the public schools in the state.
According to the Osun State information commissioner: “Themed “Sustainability of O’Meals for Improved Child Nutrition in Osun State”, the event is being organized by the state government through the Ministries of Education, Economic Planning, Budget and Development, and Federal Affairs”.
Alimi stated further that the conference is scheduled to hold on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja, and will bring together development partners and international agencies involved in school feeding programmes across Africa and beyond.
“This significant conference aims to strengthen dialogue around the future of school feeding in sub-national contexts, with a particular focus on the unique case of Osun State,” Alimi said.
“As the only state in Nigeria to have consistently operated a structured school feeding programme since 2006, Osun’s O’Meals stands as a benchmark in the national conversation on food security, nutrition and educational development.”
Alimi explained that “the daily ₦32 million expenditure covers over 200,000 direct beneficiaries, including pupils, food vendors, and local suppliers, making the programme both a nutritional intervention and an economic empowerment strategy”.
Our position on the N32 million that Governor Adeleke’s information commissioner stated the state government is spending on the purported free meal for the pupils of public schools daily in the state is a manufactured story which is far from the truth as it is glaring that there is currently no public school in the state that is enjoying free meal.
A free meal programme is supposed to be a public activity which could not be effected under the table without the express knowledge of all and sundry in the state.
As things are currently, there is no school in the state where the state government is offering any free meal.
We want to appeal to Governor Adeleke-led administration to stop using lies and subterfuge to run his administration in the interest of the corporate image of the state among the comity of other states in Nigeria and beyond.
What would Adeleke’s government lose to disclose to the outside world that its attempt to execute the free meal programme in the public schools for about two months in the life of the 32-month-old of his government was an unmitigated disaster as the vendors of the programme have copious sorry tales to tell about the bungled programme.
For anyone to be stating that there’s a subsisting free meal programme in the public schools in Osun State is tantamount to blatantly telling a barefaced lie and subsequently heaping an insult on the sensibility of the people of the State of the Virtuous.
The untrue story of the state government about the botched free school feeding programme could only be excused if only its reference is to another state called Osun elsewhere which is not to the knowledge of the right-thinking members of the society and definitely not the constitutionally sub-national one.
Can’t the Governor Adeleke-led government be upright for once and imbibe the culture of decency instead of misinforming the African Union Development Agency (New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), Dangote Foundation, Family Health International (FHI360), UN World Food Programme, Nutrition International, Partnership for Child Development and Action Aid Nigeria and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the true state of the purported feeding for public school pupils?
We shall not open our eyes and allow the Peoples Democratic Party PDP-driven administration in the state to be misinforming unsuspecting individuals and corporate bodies for reasons which could not be in the best interest of our state.
e-SIGNED:
*Mogaji KOLA OLABISI, Osun State APC Director of Media and Information.*
