BusinessDay 27 Mar 2018

Tuesday 27 March 2018
BUSINESS DAY
THE BIG HEART DIGEST
In association with Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Developement Agency (DEMSMA)
DEMSMA, political appointees, unite to support
Home-Grown School Feeding scheme in Delta
- No alert, no food for 40,000 uncovered pupils worrisome – Shimete Bello
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MERCY ENOCH, Asaba
The Home-Grown
School Feeding Programme
(HGSFP), a
federal government
intervention whereby
pupils in primaries one to
three are given free meal during
break-time on school days, has
continued to receive boost in
Delta State, courtesy of the commitment
of the Delta State Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises
Agency (DEMSMA) and political
appointees in the state.
This has marked the state out
as one succeeding in the programme
despite challenges. The
programme in most states had
been greeted with criticisms as
there have been series of allegations
about individuals enriching
themselves to the detriment of
the targeted beneficiaries, culminating
defeat of the purpose
of the programme.
A total of 2,113 caterers ought
to be cleared and paid by the
federal government, to feed
240,000 pupils in Delta State,
but as at early last month, a
total of 1,900 caterers had been
cleared and paid to cook and
feed 200,000 pupils while 40,000
pupils continued to wait for their
200 caterers to be cleared and
paid to feed them.
In an exclusive interview with
The Big Heart Digest, Shimite
Bello, executive secretary of
DEMSMA, said since the 200
caterers were yet to be paid, the
state was still pushing for them
to be cleared for payment. “Everyday,
we try our best to ensure
that everybody eats. We take our
time to explain to the affected
children that if their caterers have
not received alert, they would not
eat and they have understood it.
She described it as a worrisome
situation to the children, the
teachers, the caterers and to all
concerned”.
While caterers in some states
cry that they find it difficult to
meet up cooking for the children
with the paltry amount they are
paid, in Delta State, it has been
a different story because Bello
and her team devised methods to
help the caterers feed the children
and yet make some profit.
The agency, under Bello’s
leadership, first educated all the
caterers on the need to have gardens
where they could plant vegetables
to help them prepare the
meals without necessarily buying
vegetables from the market. Next,
she wooed her fellow political
appointees to join in empowering
women cooks and farmers.
The empowerment programme
which began late last
year, features agric experts training
the cooks and farmers on
modern farming techniques and
on the skill of gardening. It also
features donation of seeds worth
millions of naira as well as donation
of farming equipment to the
beneficiaries.
Bello said, “Basically, we were
looking at adding value to what
Shimite Bello (centre) and women cooks and farmers during
the empowerment programme held in Akwukwu-Igbo recently.
the federal government has done
for the home grown school feeding
programme and as well as
the farmers. A lot of the foods
that the children had to eat, they
needed to have vegetables in
it. They need tomatoes and the
rest and the price of tomatoes
sky-rocketed. The prices of vegetables
have also sky-rocketed.
So, we engaged with a resource
persons who could teach us how
to do gardening. She said even if
it is one plot of land within a kilometer
from where the persons
reside, the person can use it to
farm. I tried it at the back of my
house – I planted okra, I planted
spinach, tomatoes, pepper and
onions and four months after, I
could eat the fruit of my labour.”
“So, after testing it, we said we
can go ahead and start it. We have
a lot of testimonies from some of
the women cooks as well as the
farmers that joined them. They
said ‘Oh, we didn’t even know
that Delta State could grow onions
and some of the basic things
we thought could only grow in
the North’ So, one of the whole
essence of it (the empowerment
programme for women cooks
and farmers) is to ensure the basic
things that were needed to feed
the children”, said DEMSMA boss.
She added; “The well-being
of the children is the most important
motivation – to make
sure that nobody is going to
put tomato paste, or red colour
of whatever to make it seem
as if they were vegetables. The
vegetables are readily available
because we supply the seeds to
the women; by that, they neither
buy nor invest anything. The only
thing they need to invest is their
own labour – to plant the seeds
and then find water to water
them and to the Glory of God,
Delta State has enough water.”
“So, we are getting testimonies.
We’ve heard from Aniocha
North that asked us to come and
see their farms; we’ve heard from
Ughelli. We’ve not been able to
go round the 25 local government
areas. I think we have only
visited six LGAs. So, hopefully, as
this year 2018 begins we would
be looking at more LGAs to visit
with the hope that before the end
of the year we would have visited
the 25 LGs”, she said.
The empowerment programme
had been misconstrued
by some Deltans as being
politically motivated but Bello
explained, “We got political appointees
to contribute funds to
make the empowerment more
robust. It’s a way for you to fellowship
with us. I’m a political
appointee. And so, most of the
political appointees are my colleagues
and friends”.
She revealed further: “From
every local government we’ve
approached the political appointees;
they were very ready to contribute.
Some of them came to
the programme as well as those
that had other assignments, because
so many people had different
schedule of duties. They were
just sending their greetings but
they always contribute to help the
people within the vicinity. That’s
where the political appointees’
aspect came. Those who could
support willingly contributed
from their purse not by force,
but the people (beneficiaries)
also are their own people. We’ve
been blessed because we haven’t
gone to anybody that has made
us feel bad.”
On her assessment of the
HGSFP in the state, she noted that
many things have gone wrong in
the field but assured that “we are
on top of the situation.”
According to her, “People
reach out to me on Whatsapp
and facebook. My number seems
to be everywhere. So, I have got
used to attending to one problem
or the other. We have a very
good project coordinator, Eddie
Nwamaka, and he also is on top
of checking. We have committees
at all the LG levels. We have
traditional rulers and different
people on it. There is a committee
that lives in the riverine area and
goes to check schools. If I tell you
we would get up to 100 percent, it
is a lie. Everyday, we correct and
rebuke people”.
In addition, Bello said “We
have people in the office that are
assigned to do surprise inspections
to know who is cooking or
who is not cooking. We want to
know if anybody is offering bribe
for anything. I think in Delta, the
children are eating. We are doing
the best we can as human beings
to manage issues we see and to
see the bottom line which is that
the children eat well”. SN
Editorial coordinator’s corner:
Understanding Delta’s 2018 fiscal direction:
The 2018 budget estimates
IGNATIUS CHUKWU
I
wish to announce a
budget proposal of
N298.078bn for the
services of Delta State
Government in 2018. This
amount comprises the sum
of N147.5bn or 49.48% for
recurrent expenditure, and
N150.5 or 50.52% for capital
expenditure. The summary
is as follows:
The 2018 budget proposal
shows an increase
of N3.62bn or 1.21%, compared
to the 2017 approved
budget of N294.4b.
Sources of fund: The
main sources of funds for
the 2018 budget as proposed
are as follows:
IGR: The reforms we
are undertaking in revenue
collection, the plugging
of leakages in all revenue
sources, as well as the anticipated
return of oil producing
companies to Delta
State is expected to impact
positively on our IGR in
the forthcoming year. It is,
therefore, our projection
to generate the sum of
N71.3bn as IGR in 2018,
representing 23.94% of the
total projected revenues.
The IGR estimates for 2018
is higher than the 2017 approved
estimates by N1.1b
or 1.67%.
Statutory allocation:
Using the forecast derived
from the State’s Fiscal
Strategy Paper as a guide,
the sum of N178.1bn or
59.73% of projected total
revenue for the 2018 fiscal
year is expected to come
from Statutory Allocation.
This amount is more than
the sum of N148.9bn projected
for the 2017 fiscal
year by N29.1bn or 16.35%.
The increase is based on
the optimism that the current
peaceful atmosphere
in the Niger Delta region
will be sustained and that,
with the relative peace being
experienced, some of
the oil companies who vacated
the region will return
to the State. It is also our
realistic expectation that
the gradual improvements
the Federal Government
has recorded in the agriculture
and manufacturing
sectors will continue to
impact positively on the
overall expected returns in
the 2018 fiscal year.
Other capital receipts/
miscellaneous: The proposal
for Capital Receipts
for the 2018 budget has
been scaled down from
the sum of N64.8bn in the
2017 budget to N37.9bn or
71.09% in 2018. The reduction
is hinged on the overriding
objective to reduce
the loan burden on the
State.