The compulsory free meals offered the pupils of public primary schools nationwide is currently put on hold in Imo state on the orders of the wife of the state Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
The scheme which has been successfully implemented in other states could not take off in Imo state until last December 2017 simply because Mrs. Nkechi Rochas Okorocha wanted to be the sole cook and organizer of the free lunch plus school feeding scheme. She had earlier hijacked the N5000 monthly stipends to the unemployed Imo youths and the indigent.
Less than one month after the free lunch for pupils of public school started in Imo state, Nkechi Okorocha suspended it fueling speculation that she is saving cost to contribute funds for her son-inlaws governorship electioneering.
Pupils of public schools in Owerri who had hoped to enjoy the free lunch were disappointed when some of them resumed schools after the Christmas holidays only to be starved. No reason was ever adduced for the development except that the wife of the Governor wants to replace some cooks adjudged to be close or relatives of those opposed to the governorship ambition of her son-inlaw, Uche Nwosu.
Until the time of this report, the Federal Ministry of Education under her second inlaw, Prof. Tony Anwuka is yet to issue official statement on why this programme has been hijacked by the wife of the Governor.
