When you see a child on the street walking helter-skelter with an empty plate or bowl, you get to perceive that this little being seeks for nothing but what to put in his belly. But seeing a child dressed up in a school uniform with a backpack or books, you know he’s in search of knowledge. This is quite a fact but if this food seeker could find solutions to his hunger were knowledge is shared, I see no reason why the street remains his station. And we all know how our streets are flooded with illiterate children, hoodlums, touts and hawkers.
The school feeding program has received so much criticism just like so many other policies and programs implemented by President Muhammadu Buhari. Although dilapidated infrastructures, inadequate or unqualified personnel, poor learning materials and unfavourable environment in government schools is orthodox in this country as many of us underwent through it, all these issues have not been in the front pages or headlines of our media platforms until the introduction of the school feeding program.
Not to let loose the fault-pointing finger, the schools set to benefit from this new program are states owned while the school feeding is federal. If the federal set a standard through which schools qualify for the feeding program and the states respond positively by providing adequate personnel, qualitative teaching materials, standard infrastructures and a safe and conducive haven, things would have been quite different.
The inability of the state government to provide these necessities may be a reason why the program is seen as a misplacement of priority, but the federal government’s nonchalant attitude in seeing this provisions properly installed is the backbone.
Recently the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria through the mouth of the association’s vice president were requesting for a subsidized foreign exchange – a dollar to be offered to them at a subsidized rate of ₦250 – as one of the conditions to sell fuel at ₦145 per litre, hoarding hundreds of fuel tankers just to high up fuel prices. This is so unpatriotic, carnivorous and parsimonious. It’s a greedy interest shown by the petroleum marketers.
It appears all the sacrifices the masses made to harbour all hardship as result of domestic increase in fuel prices due to removal of fuel subsidy, the fall of crude oil price in global market leading to recession, and the depreciation of Naira to Dollar raising prices of goods was all in vain.
This spirit of greediness, unpatriotism and indiscipline is shown in every aspect and all angles of the country.
Unemployment rate has been a major concern and efforts were put in place to tackle it. To revive agricultural and industrial productivity and create more job opportunities and lessen the over dependency of youths on government or civil service, loans were ushered out by the Central Bank of Nigeria through the Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture – I myself happen to be a beneficiary. But in attempt to refund the loan as agreed upon, I was being discouraged by the enterprise through which I received the loan and so were other beneficiaries. This will no doubt cripple the system and it will come straight knocking at our doors. The masses are victimized.
It’s like taking a step forward and two steps back.
Just like an antidote when ingested, the viruses tends to fight back the powered defensive system and this causes reaction to the body. We offered resistance to good government policies and projects towards taking the country off devolution. And when things go wrong, it hit back at us and we turned not just in sorrow but horror, abusively putting all blames on the government.
Only if we realize that the success of this administration and the country at large lies not just in the hands of the President alone, only if we realize that we have the most significant impact in the development of this nation, only if we realize that we possess the pen and paper to re-edify and mastermind the future of this country would there be a sweet, sound and sensational progress in building this great nation.
Aliyu Abdulkadir, [email protected]
