The Choices We Made..........Senator Babafemi Ojudu
Today is a very sad day for me. I feel so sad to the point numbness.All the states of Nigeria were represented earlier today at the stakeholders' briefing for the Free School Feeding program in Abuja. Some of the young men and women planning and executing this exciting and enriching project are from Ekiti, but Ekiti State, my state, their state is not a beneficiary. As such Ekiti State is not a partipating state and not represented. Our children in public schools in Ekiti will not benefit from this program. The benefits in terms of child nutrition and good health will not come to them. School enrollment will not increase as experienced in Osun and Kaduna states, not to talk of retention! We shall not benefit from the spin-off effect of local agricultural production. Thousands of our women will not benefit from being employed as caterers. Furthermore, our family and state economy will not improve as envisaged in the participating states. This is simply because of the choice we made. What do we do now? How do we get out of this dark alley? The rest of the country is moving fast past us. This is unacceptable. Something has to give. We cannot sit down, fold our hands and mortgage the future of thousands of our young children and women who should benefit from this laudable program and many other initiatives that are aimed at improving the lives of our people. A few days ago thousands of hectares of land were cleared by the Federal Government in Osun State and parceled out to young farmers to cultivate Cashew. In the next three years, this plantation will be manufacturing cashew juice, producing pulps and nuts as well as oil used in furniture manufacturing . This is an initiative of the Federal Goverment in partnership with the state government and that game changer Oba, the Ooni of Ife.
For months now our Governor, Ayo Fayose has not attended the National Economic Council meetings. Great initiatives are coming out of this congregation of Governors and Federal Government officials to diversify the economy . In one year Kebbi State has benefitted N18 billion from the rice intervention fund. In a season, the farmers in Kebbi have harvested one million tons of rice paddy . Lagos and Kebbi are collaborating in rice production and rice milling. Where are we in all of these developments happening around us? Governors are drawing from many other intervention funds to organise their farmers to grow cassava, cocoa and palm trees. We are not featuring in any of these, yet we are mired in poverty. Our people are hungry and stealing pots of soup from their neighbor's kitchen and downing bowls of stolen amala with cold palm oil. What has gone wrong with us?
Our situation is very sad and critical but this is a choice we made!The Choices We Made..........Senator Babafemi Ojudu
Today is a very sad day for me. I feel so sad to the point numbness.All the states of Nigeria were represented earlier today at the stakeholders' briefing for the Free School Feeding program in Abuja. Some of the young men and women planning and executing this exciting and enriching project are from Ekiti, but Ekiti State, my state, their state is not a beneficiary. As such Ekiti State is not a partipating state and not represented. Our children in public schools in Ekiti will not benefit from this program. The benefits in terms of child nutrition and good health will not come to them. School enrollment will not increase as experienced in Osun and Kaduna states, not to talk of retention! We shall not benefit from the spin-off effect of local agricultural production. Thousands of our women will not benefit from being employed as caterers. Furthermore, our family and state economy will not improve as envisaged in the participating states. This is simply because of the choice we made. What do we do now? How do we get out of this dark alley? The rest of the country is moving fast past us. This is unacceptable. Something has to give. We cannot sit down, fold our hands and mortgage the future of thousands of our young children and women who should benefit from this laudable program and many other initiatives that are aimed at improving the lives of our people. A few days ago thousands of hectares of land were cleared by the Federal Government in Osun State and parceled out to young farmers to cultivate Cashew. In the next three years, this plantation will be manufacturing cashew juice, producing pulps and nuts as well as oil used in furniture manufacturing . This is an initiative of the Federal Goverment in partnership with the state government and that game changer Oba, the Ooni of Ife.
For months now our Governor, Ayo Fayose has not attended the National Economic Council meetings. Great initiatives are coming out of this congregation of Governors and Federal Government officials to diversify the economy . In one year Kebbi State has benefitted N18 billion from the rice intervention fund. In a season, the farmers in Kebbi have harvested one million tons of rice paddy . Lagos and Kebbi are collaborating in rice production and rice milling. Where are we in all of these developments happening around us? Governors are drawing from many other intervention funds to organise their farmers to grow cassava, cocoa and palm trees. We are not featuring in any of these, yet we are mired in poverty. Our people are hungry and stealing pots of soup from their neighbor's kitchen and downing bowls of stolen amala with cold palm oil. What has gone wrong with us?
Our situation is very sad and critical but this is a choice we made!

I expected sauce to manage this aregbe odourless fufu, anyways Ekiti state is yet to get the famous lagos treatment under obasanjo but Alaiye Fayose will find a way to cope. I still look forward to that day party affiliation will not form the bases for the distribution of our common wealth. 5% comes to mind!

that is why anger and unforgiving spirit will kill the persecutor. every Nigerians has a right to associate with any party. the federal government belong to every Nigerian in respective of your party affiliation. the persecutor should be wary of God's anger against evil men.

Interesting appeal to emotion.
The thing is if there's any sschools feeding program it musy cover all tge states full stop. States hv no biz being present at such a launch.
The APC promised to feed every school child. It didn't say it will do so with part funding from or assistance of states.
Before making such promises it must known that it has the resources and capacity to deliver them full stop.

Isn't it also funny that APC is now asking states to partner them in their failure -destined 500 000 teacher employment scheme at this time states are owning salaries for months
My advice to this govt is to swallow hard pills and abandon all these ill thought out programs. There are huge wastes and bound to fail.