ON THE MENU THIS WEEK, MORE THAN 350,000 FRIED CHICKEN CHOPS WERE SERVED IN CROSS RIVER STATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. IT IS SAD THAT SOMEONE WILL PICK 43 PIECES OF CHICKEN FROM A DUNGHILL AND PRESENT THEM AS THE PRODUCTS SERVED ON THE MENU. A SIMPLE EXCURSION IN TALKING TO THE STAKEHOLDERS WOULD HAVE CLEARED THE AIR OR ANY DOUBTS ABOUT THE PRODUCTS AND FURTHER ENLIGHTENED THE GENERAL PUBLIC ON THE PROGRAM RATHER THAN THE HATCHET JOB DONE BY THE WRITER.
PLEASE FIND BELOW TWO PRESS STATEMENTS ISSUED TO CLEAR THE AIR ON THE MATTER.

PRESS STATEMENT ON THE REPORT BY ‘IFERE PAUL’ ON THE CRS HGSFP. (OUR RESPONSE)
AkwaPrime is a PPP initiative with the Akwa Ibom State Government, its core focus being to develop the poultry industry in SS region of Nigeria.
At the onset of the HGSFP in CRS, AkwaPrime had engaged in product sampling in CRS and AKS utilizing premium chicken as the protein input. In the course of product development, we found out that cold-chain management was the biggest limiting factor in delivering wholesome chicken to far flung rural communities with very little public services such as power and good roads.
Since the majority of our populations are in the rural areas, we developed the fried chicken-chops as the most stable and wholesome product to reach our communities in safe and hygienic conditions.
Aside from the added value to the product, frying is also the first stage of our preservation (the second stage being that of blast-freezing). It is this fried/Blast-frozen chicken capable of staying outside the cold chain for more than 48hrs without deterioration that we delivered to distribution centers on Sunday 11th February 2018 for feeding on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th of the same month.
It is a matter of common sense to know that vegetable oil (long chain fatty acids) turns whitish when it freezes. It is laughable therefore that someone is claiming that this whitish appearance is indicative of spoilage.
For the purposes of assuring the teeming enthusiasts of the HGSFP as well as encouraging those who have made sacrifices to ensure its current success, let us state as follows:
1. That the fried chicken chops on the programme are prepared under very hygienic conditions and transported directly from the blast freezers hence the whitish frozen oils on a few of them wrongly termed spoilage.
2. That Molds will not disappear from the chicken chops if left to thaw as is the case with the frozen oils.
3. That the principle of fairness, equity and balanced reportage (assuming the writer is a certified journalist which we doubt considering his style) requires that the writer would have approached the relevant stakeholders in this matter at least to give some appearance of civility to his ‘hatchet job’.
4. That As part of our deliverables on the CRS HGSFP, we are presently domesticating the end stage processing to fried chops in CRS. To this end we have last week acquired the needed accommodation to set up the Calabar processing center at Federal Housing Estate while we are in advanced stages of identifying a place for the Ikom Center.
We have also flagged off a robust outgrower programme for the vendors to stock 100,000 broilers in CRS by July 2018 with a goal to feeding the domesticated end-stage processing centers spread across the state with chicken. Anyone seeking the truth should approach the vendors to verify this.
5. That we have no interest whatsoever in the political meanderings in CRS as alluded to by the writer of the report. Our interest is solely to deliver quality products and services for increased school enrolment/CRS poultry production through the HGSFP :
A GOAL WHO’S REALIZATION IS ALREADY AN EMPIRICIAL FACT WAITING TO BE VERIFIED BY WHOSOEVER IS GENUINELY INTERESTED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE.


AkwaPrime Hatchery and Poultry Ltd.

HERE TOO IS A RESPONSE BY THE DESK OFFICER FGHGSFP IN CRS

THE FACTS ; In response to article by Ifere Paul.
The Cross River State Government formally engaged with the Federal Government’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in 2016 and this culminated in a Department of the CRS Home Grown School feeding under the office of the Governor and manned by a Special Adviser to the Governor .
Activities to ensure implementation of the program moved on in earnest in September , 2016 , with actual commencement of the program in October , 2017 .
As at the end of 1st term of school year , 2017/18 ( Dec 2017) about 117, 750 pupils were being fed on every school day of the term , with about 1,358 vendors/cooks engaged , which has risen to about 168,069 pupils and 1,963 vendors/cooks currently .
As part of the standardization process , a robust monitoring and evaluation process is in place to ensure compliance and this, not limited to only the state processes, as an independent process is also maintained by the national body .
This mechanism ensures safe food is delivered to pupils on the program and active all the time .
Any unwholesome food whether by a cook/input supplier is checked for compliance before consumption .
The CRS commenced as a pilot phase, and sought to use the lessons in the first term to better its performance going forward .
To actualise on its deliverables , certain stakeholders as provided for in program document are engaged through due process of which are some input suppliers , such as mentioned in the article by Ifere Paul .
The case of Akwa prime Ltd , for which a lot of uncalled for castigation is in the processs , was through a robust engagement , and with well thought out deliverables to grow and domesticate the process of poultry meat production and processing in Cross River State, with Akwa prime Ltd , a PPP with Akwa Ibom state government, as technical mangers /input suppliers .
The core objective to Cross River State , in this relationship ,apart from providing wholesome chicken , is to , within the short to medium term , domestic the production of all chicken to be consumed in the program locally as well as reach other markets for capital growth benefits to stakeholders ( vendors , farmers , transporters , etc on the value chain). To ensure this , a 100,000 development target for growing broilers by July , 2018 is part of the deliverables and to which the company has commenced the process.
On our part ,we are to identify and locate about 5 farm locations across the state to warehouse these birds and for which we have 2 locations already and ready for inspection by the technical team . These locations will warehouse the first set of 30,000 birds .
To build on the opportunities provided by the home grown school feeding initiative for growth and sustainability , the Cross River model proposes to connect the consumers from the farm, through a robust value chain process of at least 120 collection and 5 aggregating centers .
We hope in the long run to have at least 5 food processing centers built around the aggregating centers , starting with poultry meat processing .
Stakeholders to these initiatives shall predominantly be the vendors , farmers , etc in localities and this will enhance the enterprise spirit inherent in local communities .
Currently , we are engaging major associations such as the Poultry association of Nigeria ( CRS) and Master bakers association ( CRS ) , in the production and supply of eggs and bread , and which has brought some stability to their businesses .
The advantage to the program is price stability and economies of scale ,and the expansion of egg production in the state , which we all know is mostly brought into the state from outside.
Also , are ongoing discussions with membership of the transport associations , to enhance our transportation delivery value chain .
On the technical side , to build capacities in the value chain benefits , is an ongoing collaboration with "You Lead " a CUSO initiative , which sponsored the field trip to Akwa Ibom State last year , that led to the collaboration with Akwa Prime hatchery and poultry ltd .
An outgrowers initiative managed in Akwa Ibom state , fitted well with our thoughts to grow local capacities .
In a nutshell, the Cross River State HGSFP is looking beyond the N70 per meal a day currently being provided by the Federal Government but seeing this Programme as a springboard to other opportunities to grow our agricultural sector within CRS .Our involvement with Akwa Prime Ltd
is a well thought out initiative and we welcome their understanding as stakeholders in implementing the CRS -School Feeding Programme.

The NHGSFP is one of four FG National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) currently being implemented within Cross River State.
The others are, Cash Transfer , Market Moni GEEP Loans and the Npower Programme.

It is wisdom to guard jealously what we have!

Ntufam Gab Okulaja
Special Adviser /Desk officer
CRS -Home Grown School Feeding Program
Office of The Governor
Calabar
13th Feb , 2018

There are ALWAYS two sides to a story!

I ended up more confused than before I read the rebuttal