The Minister of Education of Nigeria, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa, issued a public plea this week that ought to worry every citizen who still believes in the promise of public education. He appealed to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to urgently release funds for the feeding of students in Unity Schools across the country; a disbursement that has been delayed since April. Due to the delay, contractors are yet to be paid, students’ resumption has been put on hold, and the silence from the relevant quarters is fast becoming indifference.

The gravity of this situation goes beyond logistics or bureaucratic red tape. It speaks of a deeper rot: the incremental loss of responsibility, compassion, and vision in the management of a sector that forms the pillar on which any country’s future stands, education.

Feeding is not a luxury in boarding schools; it is an incomparable necessity. Malnutrition cripples not just physical but also intellectual growth. If children are hungry, their ability to focus, retain information, and contribute meaningfully to learning is greatly impaired. In a country where millions are already food insecure, the state’s inability to feed children in its care in federally owned Unity Schools is a betrayal of trust.

The Unity Schools were established to promote national integration, academic excellence, and equality of opportunity. But what happens when the same government that envisioned these ideals becomes a hindrance to their continuation?

It is telling that when funds can easily be located for lawmakers’ luxury SUVs or foreign travel for public officials, the mere feeding of school children is an afterthought. What does that reveal about our national priorities?

Nigeria’s appropriation budgets also have a top-heavy appetite—overspending on administration, under-budgeting essential services. Education still receives less than the world’s suggested 15–20% of national budgetary allocation. Even within that envelope, more critical line items such as student feeding, teacher welfare, and infrastructural development are typically deferred or cut.

If feeding funds cannot be released for over two months, one is forced to wonder: What if these were government big shots’ children? Would the system be so indifferent?

When Government Fails, Who Pays? The answer is simple: the Nigerian child pays.

They pay with hunger.

They pay with wasted learning hours.

They pay with lowered morale and delayed dreams.

Worse still, such government failure worsens the already widening gap between public and private education. While children in top-tier schools learn with uninterrupted power, nourishment, and access to digital tools, children in Unity Schools must wait for a bureaucrat to “approve” their next meal.

This is how nations perish, not in one cataclysmic bang, but through slow, incremental neglect of its most vulnerable.

The generational failure of Nigerian government, felt by the parents of these children is now being inherited by the innocent children.

A Call for Urgent Redirection

The Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant-General should release the outstanding feeding funds immediately. But in the future, there must be systemic reform. The management of the Unity Schools must be insulated from political foot-dragging. Budget implementation must be prompt, and heads must roll where negligence exposes children to risk.

Most importantly, Nigerians must begin to hold leaders accountable, not just during election seasons, but every time they compromise the safety, education, and well-being of our children.

For a country that sings “leaders of tomorrow,” it is the height of duplicity to starve the same leaders today.