Social Intervention: Redefining the operating framework of programme clusters

Social intervention programmes are particularly most essential for the third world Countries within which Nigeria can be categorised in development profile. While social and welfare schemes are not alien to the advanced world, it’s necessity in the third world Countries are much more alarming, given the depth of deficits in human capital development profile. This need has borne even from the developed world, intervention programmes across third world Countries to improve human capital profile.

Social intervention programmes, indeed have been a part of provisions by the Government to ensure even distribution of resources, to have the less privileged not circumvented from common good. Hence, the provision of welfare for these class of citizens has been a part of governance in the western world. Although the resonance seems largely pronounced in ‘welfarist States’ it’s significance have not also been sidelined in capitalist political economies of the world.

In Nigeria, while social intervention programmes have not been alien, yet it’s provision has been broadly inadequate, far from  a reasonable degree of acceptability, given the population profile, the enormity of resources in the Country and the demands of such interventions.

The irreconcilable differences between the demands for social-welfare interventions and the provisions, have all left non commendable narratives in profound terms. This is, however, not to say that there has not been initiatives bearing reflections to such demands. However, it appears the implementation of same and the ectopic orientation are apparently too shallow to meet and speak to the appeals of the necessities.

Like other administrations, social interventions are not out of the schematic provisions of the President Muhammadu Buhari led government. The configuration of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) has as one of its four clusters under its wings, the school feeding programme, tagged National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP). The concept of the programme as a means of boosting elementary school participation would evidently not be a bad idea for the education system and the society at large.

However, the strategic configuration required in the implementation of such programme is one which demands robust intelligent patterns of oriental architecture to achieve sustainable and concrete outcomes. This is particularly so, given the demographic, socio-economic and ethno-religious dichotomies in the societal configuration of the divides of the Federation by region. The heterogeneous profile with dichotomous character has brought in the necessity to give patterns of strategic intelligence  to the implementation of the programme, if meaningful outcomes would be upheld profoundly. For instance, while the feeding programme in the North, largely characterIsed with apathy to western education, would rather center on serving as tool of attraction to get children to the learning environment, the guiding orientation in the South may not largely have to dwell deeply to centre on same, given the disposition of embrace to western education in the region. Even, in the North where the orientation would largely be of attracting pupils to the classrooms, the possibilities of pupils only seeing same programme as an alluring enticement just to partake of the free feeding without keen interest required for open-mindedness in learning, is near sight.

However, despite the perceptions of contest that may surround the course, it remains a reality that the present Federal government has continued to channel huge resources to same.   On Thursday, April 21, 2022, the Federal Government disclosed its plans to train no less than 150,000 local cooks nationwide for the programme. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq at the Orientation Programme of Facilitators for the NHGSFP,  said the Government has resolved to train local cooks nationwide to meet the required standards of the school feeding initiative. Farouq represented by the National Coordinator of the National Social Intervention Programme (NSIP), Dr Umar Bindir, explained that the initiative would concentrate on the institutionalisation and the full implementation of the national home school feeding programme. “This programme concentrates on the institutionalisation and the full implementation of the national home school programme, which is one of the prime clusters of the National Social Investment Programme. We started this programme in 2016 and we are feeding nearly 10 million children nationwide in all the States of the Federation. This feeding process includes first, empowering women within the communities where the schools are located to cook the food for the children. This is a nationwide strategy, we are going to train cooks in the Country and we have 100 to 150,000 of them. The training will focus on the food safety, hygienic working environment, food procurement, food standardisation as well as financial literacy,” she said.

Last September 25, 2021, the Federal Government (FG) had disclosed that it spent no less than ¦ 2 billion on free feeding for pupils in Adamawa, under the NHGSFP. Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, at the hand over of an additional 50,000 branded feeding utensils to the Adamawa Government in Yola, had disclosed that the Federal Government was expending a total of ¦ 226 million monthly on the school feeding programme in Adamawa alone. “Over ¦ 2 billion was expended by the Federal Government in Adamawa, under the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP). So far, the NHGSFP has recorded over nine million pupils that are being fed by over 100,000 cooks/vendors nationwide,” Sadiya Farouq, represented by the National Coordinator, Social Investment Programme, Dr. Umar Bindir, had said.

State Governments have also been seen lending support to the programme.  November 16, 2021, the Benue State Government had distributed cooking utensils worth over N400million to cooks recruited for the NHGSFP in the State. The Government had also facilitated and funded trainings for the Cooks on Personal Health and Hygiene as well as COVID-19 Protocols, to ensure proficient delivery of the programme.

As one of the four key interventions of the Federal Government, under the NSIP which seeks to boost school enrollment, nutrition, local economic activities across the Federation, the implementation of the NHGSFP demands no less than strategic appeals to achieve the informing objectives. As the Government continue to see reasons to sustain the programme, which may not be overruled as imprudent, it is however essential to reorganise the conformig orientation guiding the operations and implementation of the programme. It has become of necessity, if the programme would not only suffer little or no impact while gulping huge economic resources, that it’s working framework be recarved and shaped around sound intelligent system of operations according to the demands of times and needs, as well as socio-economic, cultural, and environmental dynamics across the wide and divide of the Federation.