FG unveils ICT platform to track school feeding value chain

Dr Aderemi Adebowale

The Federal Government has developed an Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-driven system to monitor every process in the school feeding value chain.

Dr Aderemi Adebowale, National Programme Manager, National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) disclosed this in an interview with the Truthng in Abuja on Sunday.

He said an end-to-end application has been  put in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP)

Adebowale was reacting to public outcry that trailed a recent announcement by Vice President Kashim Shettima
that Nigeria might require an annual budget of about N1 trillion to sustain nationwide coverage of the NHGSFP.
Shettima spoke during the National Policy Forum on the Institutionalisation and Implementation of the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, organised by ActionAid Nigeria.
Represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs, Dr. Tope Fasua, the Vice President stressed that the programme should not be seen as a financial burden but as a nation-building investment with significant social, economic, and security benefits.
Many Nigerians had, however, expressed doubts over the claim, contending that past implementation of the school feeding initiative was riddled with loopholes, inflated contracts, and weak oversight.
They expressed the fear that announcing such a massive figure without providing a clear breakdown could erode public trust.
According to the critics, during the last administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, the initiative, instead of serving its purpose, was tainted by corruption and turned into a channel for diverting money.
Reassuring the critics, Adebowale said that the ICT- driven innovation in monitoring the programme would block every loopholes for mismanagement

 “We are going to be using an end-to-end app that monitors anywhere our money goes.

“For instance, the cooks are no longer going to be getting paid to go and buy the food items for the children.

“We will pay the suppliers when we monitor that they had delivered to the local government where they are supposed to deliver to.

They will, in turn, package the food items, give them to the cook for preparation for the children,” he said

Adebowale added: “Everyday, the cooks are monitored by our wards verifiers that they bring the food to school. And as these are being done, we are documenting everything.

“There will be a dashboard where movement, feeding of the children in every schools in Nigeria will be seen live, and then we now store it in cloud.

“So, we have put a system in place, an enhanced platform where Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is going to be very strong.

“From our suppliers, to our agri-vendors, to our farmers, to our cooks, to our verifiers; the end-to-end app will monitor every movement, including logistics”

The NHGSFP programme manager added that the agency also partnered with a lot of developing partners on social investment programmes.

She said some of the women working in the chain, such as, cooks, farmers, would be trained and empowered through the assistance of the developing partners.

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