Osun may stop free feeding of schoolchildren

April 24, 2015 : Femi Makinde 100 Comments




The Osun State Government is considering a review of its policy of free feeding of primary school pupils in the state.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed on Thursday that Governor Rauf Aregbesola had set up a committee to work out how to implement the review of this policy.

The nine-member committee, which is also working on the review of the state’s free health programme for children and the elderly, may recommend that parents be made to pay a little levy for each child in school.

The committee comprises permanent secretaries in the state and a Level 17 officer, who is a director.

A source in the government circle, told our correspondent that labour leaders in the state recommended the review of the free feeding policy alongside others to save money for payment of salaries of civil servants and to carry out developmental projects.

The Aregbesola government has, for almost six months, been unable to pay workers salaries, a development it blames on dwindling allocation from the Federal Government.

Deputy Governor, Titi Laoye-Tomori, had said last year that the “school feeding meals cost government of the State of Osun N3.6bn annually.”

In December 2014, the All Progressives Congress in the state said the allocation accruing to the state had fallen from N3.8bn per month to N1.3bn.

Following agitations by civil servants over the non-payment of their salaries, Aregbesola challenged labour leaders in the state to suggest how his administration could generate more funds to meet its obligations.

The labour leaders consequently came up with a report containing recommendations for the review of the policies.

The report, dated December 15, 2014 and sighted by The PUNCH, was signed by the Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Councils, Bayo Adejumo; the Chairman of Trade Union Congress in the state, Francis Adetunji; and the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress in the state, Saka Adesiyan.

The secretary of the JNC, R. A . Adeyemi; TUC Secretary, Kayode Adepoju, and the secretary of the NLC, G. A. Bolarinwa, also signed the report.

It was learnt that the labour leaders came up with the recommendations after interactive sessions with workers.

In the report, they recommended the introduction of Parent/Teacher Association levy to be paid by every primary and secondary school pupil.

The report read in part, “We have to appreciate the government for its programmes on free health, education and free meal, etc while the economy was buoyant to some extent.

“Now that the situation has reached unmanageable equilibrium, we wish to advise that the policy of government on free programmes be reviewed to increase the IGR(Internally Generated Revenue) of the state.

“There should be introduction of token amount to be paid by each pupil/ student to assist the government since the government had hitherto provided everything on education free of charge when the economy was stable.

“The PTA should be re-introduced to contribute token amount to schools. It was revealed that at the Federal Government College, Ipetu, parents do pay a sum of N5,000 per student to assist the school.”

The labour leaders also recommended that the governor should prioritise capital projects and complete them in phases.

They also recommended the review of some laws, which stipulate fines of as low as N20 or N50 as punishment for non-payment of some taxes.

The union leaders advised the government to stop illegal mining of solid mineral resources such as gold and tantalite in the state.

They also want the government to begin the collection of revenue from contractors and others digging gravel, sand and granite from burrow pits.

They were equally not silent on the need for the government to take a second look at the number of political appointees and their remunerations with a view to minimising the cost of governance.

The report added, “We know for sure that the area of political appointment is Mr. governor’s constituency. But because of the economic situation we find ourselves now, the truth must be told. The appointment of chains of political appointees, e.g, special advisers, senior special assistants, personal assistants and all other political appointments should be suspended for now.

“More importantly, since the governor had dissolved his cabinet on the last day of his first term, we advise that he should tarry a bit before he appoints his political aides except those that are compulsory for him to have.

“The remuneration of political office holders is considered to be on the high side, especially the ones that were not known within the purview of the Salaries and Wages Commission which the state House of Assembly legislated upon.

“Also, the remuneration of political office holders should be reviewed downward. When Mr. governor wants to appoint his political functionaries later, it should be manageable.”

The labour leaders recommended that the governor should stop the use of consultants for IGR collection. They believe that the use of consultants amounts to waste of resources.

They therefore advised that civil servants should be used to execute such tasks.

The unionists added, “ If there is a dire need at all for the use of consultants for specific purposes, the revenue that would be accruable to the state should be fixed and percentages should not be given as it is the case now where 40 per cent goes to the government and 60 per cent to the consultants.”

Noting that the government was not doing enough to stop illegal felling of trees in the state, they suggested that foresters should be adequately equipped to fight criminal in the sub-sector.

Another aspect of their recommendations is revenue generation from tertiary institutions.

While they agreed that state owned tertiary institutions should be made self-sustaining, they said tuition should not be hiked.

They added that the institutions should be made to generate enough fund to take care of their basic needs in order to free the subventions given to them by the government.

The union leaders advised also that the government should regulate the part-time and pre-degree programmes of the institutions to prevent managements from abusing them.

When contacted, the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Governor’s office, Semiu Okanlawon, said he had not seen the report.

He however confirmed that the state government asked labour to advise it on how to generate income from other sources apart from federal allocation.

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Somebody please wake me up from my hallucination

I thought Osun was claimed as the richest state in Nigeria?
I thought Aregbe was the next best thing after bread and butter?
I thought Osun's IGR was skyrocketing to high heavens?

APC has played a fast one on Osun people.

Bet me, APC will similarly play a fast one on the Nigerian nation.

But knowing this is Nigeria, and that the head of the in-govt is one of them blood-thirsty Fulxxxx, APC will not be easily electorally dislodgable in 2019, even after a predictable woeful performance. This is because they will rig the election by all means possible.
Only a cool-headed dude like GEJ can allow himself to be dislodged in a country - where anything goes- such as Nigeria

I dey laff oh!!

Chai see hungry children

Eeya

I find it difficult to understand why for the past 16 years, 99 percent of states still have to depend on the FG for survival. We have useless chimps ruling our states.

Article and comments here
http://www.punchng.com/news/osun-may-stop-free-feeding-of-schoolchildren/

Sweetguy25:
I find it difficult to understand why for the past 16 years, 99 percent of states still have to depend on the FG for survival. We have useless chimps ruling our states.

Yes, you Nigerians in Nigeria blame everything on the FG, yet there are other tiers of govt, many of which just collect their monthly allocations and pocket them.

Nigerians will always get what they asked for.

I blame poorverty..

kkkj

Aregbe just dey fall person hand sha

who is the state's commissioner for finance? i think he or she is solely to blame for this.

Aregbe is an engineer not an accountant

it looks like all these 'noble' activities were embarked on by the governor without actually balancing the books and also working on ways to increase the state's IGR. . . .neither was any feasible 'Plan B' on ground should the monthly allocation drop

it seems they were just running the state on an ''overdraft'' from their bankers and now that the banks have cut off all their lines of credit, the state is basically crumbling

something has to give. he either reintroduces school fees or stop the free meals. Heck! Even the UK government introduced tuition fees when they had a massive budget deficit and despite the huge outcry, youngsters are still enrolling in Universities.

When did they stop pta levy?

Didnt it use to be mandatory?

What is going on in nigeria sef?

PTA levy should be mandatory, with exceptions made for parents who cant afford to pay.

.

Ralphlauren:
Aregbe just dey fall person hand sha

who is the state's commissioner for finance? i think he or she is solely to blame for this.

Aregbe is an engineer not an accountant

it looks like all these 'noble' activities were embarked on by the governor without actually balancing the books and also working on ways to increase the state's IGR. . . .neither was any feasible 'Plan B' on ground should the monthly allocation drop

it seems they were just running the state on an ''overdraft'' from their bankers and now that the banks have cut off all their lines of credit, the state is basically crumbling

something has to give. he either reintroduces school fees or stop the free meals. Heck! Even the UK government introduced tuition fees when they had a massive budget deficit and despite the huge outcry, youngsters are still enrolling in Universities.

Osun is a good example of a Banana Republic (dependent solely on bank loans to function)

Francis5:
Somebody please wake me up from my hallucination

I thought Osun was claimed as the richest state in Nigeria?
I thought Aregbe was the next best thing after bread and butter?
I thought Osun's IGR was skyrocketing to high heavens?

when was osun the richest state in the country .........

Hunger coming to South West. hahahahaha. Result of laziness.

Osun is the most backward state in Southern Nigeria, I wonder how that broke and poor enclave with a mujahiddin will pay Anambra State investment in her bonds.

I used to think my beloved Ebonyi was backward until I went to Osun and saw backwardness redefined.
Most of the people from the cesspit are the ones claiming we own lagos, lagos is our land, go back to your village bla bla bla.
My guy that served in the state said even the pure water they were drinking were been imported from Ibadan.

We own lagos, we build lagos, lagos is our own,, go back to your village nonsense

banki:



when was osun the richest state in the country .........

Have you forgotten when Aragbashola was saying his IGR was £20b per week and the vultures here saying Osun was economically viable that Anambra Abia and Ebonyi combine.

This is a hamlet of a state without life that rely on NYSC members to run the state civil service is boasting.
When you were blinded by tribalism and ethnic and religious bigotry to elect in a refrigerator technician, when your state allocattion will enter the account of Alpha Beta consulting and 60% slashed for the frog eyed bourdillion bandit what do you expect.

This just goes to show that you can't use lies and propaganda to abrogate the laws of economics (and mathematics).

This is a preview on what will happen to the whole country when the Janjaweedian socialists implement their misguided policies on the whole nation; free monthly N5,000 to 25million, feeding of school children and now N40 a litre of gasoline.

Like I said, the lunatics have taken over the assylum. Fasten your seat belts, it will be a rough 4 years.

AnambraDota:
Osun is the most backward state in Southern Nigeria, I wonder how that broke and poor enclave with a mujahiddin will pay Anambra State investment in her bonds.

I used to think my beloved Ebonyi was backward until I went to Osun and saw backwardness redefined.
Most of the people from the cesspit are the ones claiming we own lagos, lagos is our land, go back to your village bla bla bla.
My guy that served in the state said even the pure water they were drinking were been imported from Ibadan.

We own lagos, we build lagos, lagos is our own,, go back to your village nonsense

when did anambra become a bank that gives loan?