The decisive action followed complaints from parents and concerned members of the public, as well as unannounced inspections conducted by officials of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Special Duties in selected schools within Dutse Local Government Area.
Speaking with journalists on Thursday, the Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Special Duties, Auwalu Sankara, said the intervention was aimed at sanitising the school feeding programme and safeguarding the welfare of pupils and students across the state.
According to him, the inspections were designed to verify reports from the field and ensure that government resources meant for feeding students were not being diverted or misused. “The inspections were meant to check the reality on the ground and ensure that our children are not being shortchanged,” Sankara stated.
He disclosed that at the Girls Model Boarding School, Kudai, in Dutse metropolis, the monitoring team uncovered a major discrepancy between the reported student population and the actual headcount. “We discovered a discrepancy of over 30 per cent. Only 681 students were physically present, as against the 1,008 students reported by the contractor,” he revealed.
Sankara further explained that the food served to students at the school, particularly the soup, was found to be unfit for human consumption, prompting the immediate suspension of the contractor, Jibrin Maifata.
At the Government Commercial Secondary School, Dutse, the commissioner said the inspection team rejected a supply of low-grade rice meant for students. As a result, the contract of Alhaji Sule Zai, who also doubles as the chairman of the contractors, was terminated with immediate effect.
In another development, Sankara announced that three contractors — Kamalu Sulaiman, Alhaji Abdullahi Abanderi, and Alhaji Umaru Chamo — were suspended for supplying incomplete food items to the School for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Dutse, thereby violating the terms of their contracts.
However, the commissioner noted that not all contractors failed the inspection. At the School for the Visually Impaired, Limawa, the student headcount was found to be accurate and the quality of food satisfactory. Consequently, the contractor, Adamu Khalid, was retained.
“While we are cracking down on errant contractors, we also acknowledge and appreciate those who are doing their job honestly,” Sankara said, adding that performance-based assessment would remain the guiding principle of the programme.
He warned that the state government would not tolerate any compromise on student welfare, stressing that anyone found diverting resources or exploiting the system would be prosecuted according to the law.
Efforts by journalists to obtain comments from the affected contractors and some school heads proved unsuccessful, as they declined to respond to enquiries on the matter.
Meanwhile, stakeholders have commended the government’s swift action. Members of the Jigawa-Next Forum urged authorities to ensure that suspended contractors refund funds for services not rendered and that credible replacements are appointed promptly to prevent disruption of the school feeding programme.
