APC n its supporters are brain dead ...during. The campaign dey promised free MEAL and not free BISCUITS ....nigeria is a joke.

come to think of it I thought they promised meal not snacks. which one be all these NASCO biscuit Mou sef. biscuit na food?
nawa oo

urnaijadotcom:
Let me start by applauding the Federal Government’s ‘One Meal A Day’ programme for pupils. This programme featured prominently during APC’s election campaign and it is good to know that the government intends to honour that promise.

Providing meals for pupils puts Nigeria in the same league with industrialised countries that have identified social welfare as a necessary tool for economic development.

However, the recent MOU signed by the FG with NASCO to feed 30 million pupils special biscuits is a very bad idea from a nutritional point of view.

Large scale social welfare is uncharted territory for the FG so they can be excused if they do not get it right the first time. This is the time for them to return to the drawing board and come up with better alternatives.

Senator Ben Bruce has rightly pointed out that prioritising feeding pupils biscuits over paying teachers salary is not the way to improve the standard of education in Nigeria.

This write-up is looking at the decision from a nutritional point of view.

Firstly, will parents be provided with the nutritional information on what their children are eating?

Secondly, how many healthcare professionals like doctors and dieticians were consulted before this MOU was signed?

According to the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who represented the government at the signing ceremony in Abuja, the MoU was necessary in order to advance the implementation process of government desire to enhance a healthy development of children through the programme.

The minister said further that the high nutrient density biscuits were one of the products of Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), Lagos, which would meet at least one- third recommended dietary allowance of Pupils. One-third, what about the remaining two-thirds? There are other alternatives like fruits and vegetable that will provide more than half of the children’s recommended dietary allowance.

The government’s desire to enhance a healthy development of children through the programme should be questioned if feeding children biscuits is the best idea they can come up with.

Let us have a look at what biscuit contains and the nutritional value of these substances:

Sugar: This is one of the most important ingredients in biscuit. Sugar will damage children’s teeth and that is just the beginning. Excessive consumption of sugar also leads to the development of Diabetes type 2 and other obesity related illnesses like cancer, high blood pressure and hypertension later in life. Some of these pupils may have undiagnosed Diabetes type 1, which is more serious than Diabetes type 1, and consuming biscuits every day will worsen the situation. The other alternative to sugar is aspartame and nutritionally it’s even worse than sugar.

Hydrogenated oils: They may seem harmless enough, but these hydrogenated oils mean that they contain the most dangerous kind of fats- Trans fat. Trans fat is known to increase bad cholesterol and decrease good cholesterol. They also increase chances of diabetes and heart disease later in life.

Wheat Flour: the wheat flour biscuit is made of is generally refined wheat flour. Eating refined wheat flour is not `recommended because during processing, the brown cover of the wheat is removed that contains essential vitamins and also the necessary fiber that supplements the process of digestion and supports weight loss.

Biscuit is also high in calories and falls under the category of foods with high GI (Glycaemic Index), which means children feel full immediately after eating it due to the rapid release of energy but less than an hour later they’re hungry again because they have used up all the energy from the biscuit.

Biscuit is also not a good source of fibre and children need fibre. Even with the fiber that is added in the biscuits, that content is much lower than the daily requirement for fiber.

Instead of feeding children with biscuits the FG should invest in agriculture by encouraging farmers to grow fruits and vegetable to feed these children with. This will not only be a source of income for these local farmers but will also provide the children with better nutrition.


- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/attn-nigerian-parents-fgs-plan-feed-children-nasco-biscuits-dangerous-idea-nutritionally/#sthash.DPH2YYv1.dpuf

This is an example of what the Senator was talking about:

https://www.nairaland.com/2927808/headmaster-sacked-kaduna-diverting-biscuits

arresa:



According to who? You and your fellow ignorants?

Do you people even know the meaning of fortified biscuit? It means biscuits fortified with essential vitamins and nutrients which they benefit from nutritionally than what they eat at home.

We've been eating worse stuff with no essential benefits than biscuit like eba, amala, akpu and rice 3 times a day for generations and you people are crying over what was designed to benefit children?

If you don't want the biscuit for your children, then don't let them eat it and let other kids needing the benefits gain from it.


Sad enough that the unintelligent twitter senator whose children are in america eating the best food in the world also who with his PDP gang who denied our kids better education and nutrition fighting kids over biscuits, but you the sad by products of the same atrocities perpetrated by the same clowns like this idiotic twitter clown whose children received the best education in America are supporting this hypocritical clown his political stupidity.


The silly twitter clown need to get off twitter and go see shameful and disgracing issues school children in his own constituency are facing..

This is just a case of Pot calling Kettle Black. #Hypocrite.

You condemn the OP and Ben Bruce for being Pro PDP in this issue yet you are being Pro APC in your defense.

This is why I don't support the program and what I expected from you after bashing them...

The Biscuit being Fortified or not, the meal being Fried Rice or Jollof rice will not yield anything positive.

1. The meal will not improve the learning environment nor improve the wack educational system of the country.

2. Many children will only have the thought of being in school to receive the Biscuit and not care what the teacher is teaching but only focus on the time Biscuit will be shared.

3. The program will no doubt increase population but the issue is what measure are being put in place to cater and control the population.

4. (Which is the most important and apply to us #Corrupt People) How do you give a Hungry Man food to share to the public? Which measures are put in place to make teachers/authorities not embezzle 90% of the Biscuit for personal use.

Don't be surprised if after one month the program start you will start seeing the same brand of Biscuit being sold in street/corner stores.

First thing First, that's the first and the shortest parable I know of that apply to every thing on even when I was learning to walk.


There's a lot that need to be put in place before Rollin out this program. Alot a D I mean it when I say alot

Thanks for reading my gibberish (If u disagree)