Jigawa Government Suspends Contractors Over Alleged School Feeding Scam

Contractors engaged in the state school food program have been suspended by the Jigawa State Government. This comes after claims of fraud and subpar service.

This was revealed on Wednesday during an inspection of a few schools in the Dutse local government by Hon. Auwal D. Sankara, the state Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Special Duties.

According to him, the inspection was a component of government initiatives to guarantee responsibility and safeguard the wellbeing of students.

“The monitoring team found irregularities, including inflated student population figures, supply of substandard food items, and incomplete food deliveries to boarding schools,” he said.

Inspectors discovered a significant disparity between official records and the actual number of students at the Girls Model Boarding School in Kudai. A physical head count revealed just 681 students, despite school records indicating 1,008.

The contractor, Jibrin Maifata, was immediately suspended after the commissioner declared that the meal was unsafe for students to eat.

A shipment of rice that was sent to the Government Commercial Secondary School in Dutse was turned down because it did not match the necessary requirements. Alhaji Sule Zai, the Chairman of the School Feeding Contractors, was later fired by the Commissioner due to the event.

In a similar vein, three contractors at the School for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Dutse—Kamalu Sulaiman, Alhaji Abdullahi Abanderi, and Alhaji Umaru Chamo—were suspended for providing students with insufficient food supplies.

According to Hon. Sankara, the steps were consistent with the administration’s commitment to accountability and openness in public programs as well as Governor Umar A. Namadi’s 12-Point Agenda.

He threatened to prosecute anyone found misusing funds intended for the welfare and nutrition of students.

He stated that in order to guarantee value for public dollars and adherence to criteria in all social intervention programs, the inspections would continue throughout the state.