From Sola Ojo, Abuja
A disturbing report has revealed inhumane feeding conditions at the Kaduna State Special Education School (KASSES), where approximately 730 disabled students are allegedly being served substandard meals.
This situation starkly contradicts claims of substantial government funding for school feeding programs. In 2024, Dr Fauziya Buhari-Ado, Special Assistant on School Feeding to Governor Uba Sani, stated that the state was investing N4 billion annually to feed about 25,000 students across 51 boarding schools.
However, conditions at KASSES tell a different story. Earlier this year, reports confirmed severe malnourishment among children at a state-run orphanage, leading to the dismissal of nannies accused of misappropriating allocated funds.
Comrade Daniel Ejembi, Chairman of Eagle Brain Youth Transformative Initiative and a prominent human rights advocate in Kaduna, led an undercover fact-finding mission to KASSES following credible allegations of gross mismanagement of student welfare.
“What we saw is heartbreaking,” Ejembi said. “Students who are deaf and mute are being served substandard meals unfit for consumption—tea that looks and tastes like palm wine. Contractors dilute three measures (mudu) of milk and four measures (mudu) of sugar with water for over 700 students. It’s appalling.”
Ejembi stressed that the conditions do not reflect the government’s school feeding allocation. “In today’s economy, no child should be fed on less than N2,000 per day. What is happening here is a crime against humanity,” he declared.
When journalists visited the 46-year-old school, located off Katsina Road adjacent to Adeyemo College, Kaduna, they observed visibly upset disabled students crossing a busy trunk ‘C’ road unsupervised, holding buns and cups of murky, tasteless “tea” with no trace of milk.
Ejembi described the kitchen as unhygienic, open, and unsuitable for food preparation, particularly for children with special needs. “It means they are not receiving a balanced diet. Their vulnerability makes proper care even more critical,” he said.
He further alleged that food quality is temporarily improved only when a Special Adviser to the governor is scheduled to visit, indicating manipulation and corruption. “This clearly shows something is wrong, and the government must investigate urgently,” Ejembi warned.
The Eagle Brain Youth Transformative Initiative has called on Governor Uba Sani’s administration to take swift, transparent action to investigate the mismanagement and protect the rights of disabled students. “We will not hesitate to mobilise students and the public to demand justice if this situation is not addressed,” Ejembi vowed.
The school’s management declined to comment, stating they lacked permission from the Ministry of Education to speak to the media on the issue.
