The school feeding programme at Saint James Primary School B, People, Osogbo, which had been suspended due to allegations of poisoning in December 2023, has now resumed.
Last year, 18 students from the school were hospitalized after consuming a midday meal of rice, egg, and vegetables.
Following demands from stakeholders, the state government launched an investigation into the incident and temporarily halted the feeding programme.
The affected students underwent tests at the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, and it was revealed that all of them, except one who was suffering from malnutrition, were in good health.
Recently, a delegation led by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on School Feeding, Yetunde Adeniji, visited the school.
According to her, “the visit was a fact-finding one to get abreast with updates on the purported food poisoning on December 12 under the state government’s Home Grown School Feeding programme.
“The FG will be establishing a monitoring and evaluation unit to ensure continued commitment to the safety and success of school feeding programmes across the country.
“In the coming days, our office would ensure government policies are strictly adhered to across the federation to standardise school feeding programs in Nigeria, among other sweeping reforms.”
Nothing has been said about the outcome of the probe weeks after the state government directed a thorough investigation into the incident.
However, it was revealed that the school feeding programme has since resumed in the school.
The Osun Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi on Monday stated that the programme resumed not long after the government probe was concluded.
“The programme resumed not long after it was suspended after the government had done thorough investigations.
“The initiative is running without a hitch and the pupils are eating without any problem,” he said.
