Kaduna state governor Nasir el-Rufai has been dragged to court by a Kaduna-based lawyer, Maxwell Kyon, over his administration’s free school feeding programme..... According to Punch El-Rufai flagged-off the free feeding programme for 1.8 million primary school pupils in the state in January, which according to him was the beginning of a different phase of the state government’s project to expand access to education.
Addressing a Kaduna chief magistrates court 4 on Tuesday, March 1, Kyon argued that there was no need for the state government to feed schoolchildren in the state. According to him, the free feeding programme was unconstitutional.
Leading the legal team for the Kaduna governor, Sanusi Usman, the director of litigation of the state Ministry of Justice argued that Kyon had no grounds to challenge the programme.
The case was adjourned till March 17, for hearing by the chief magistrate, Mairo Muhammed.
However, parents under the aegis of Concerned Parents of Public School Pupils have declared that nothing can stop the free feeding initiative.
One of the parents, James Ogwoche said: “We are telling anybody who has any minority view over the Kaduna state’s free feeding programme to leave parents and government alone. I don’t know why some people always go against a good initiative.”
According to him, the programme had been beneficial to his two sons in a primary school in the state.
Senator Danjuma Laah, representing Kaduna south senatorial zone, had earlier criticised the programme which he described as a deliberate attempt by Governor El-Rufai to score curious political points.
He noted that the sum of N90 million per day or N450 million per week used in feeding pupils could have been used to improve the quality and quantity of school infrastructure and teaching aids in the state.
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