Federal Government Makes N14.7billion Payments For Meal Subsidy In Nigerian Public Schools In Six Months
This was contained in the publication on the Open Treasury portal of the federal government.
The Nigerian government has stated that it spent N14.7 billion on “meal subsidy for government schools” in the first six months of 2024.
This was contained in the publication on the Open Treasury portal of the federal government.
The total budget earmarked for the scheme stood at N36.7 billion for the full year.
Meal subsidies are usually targeted at the 112 unity schools in Nigeria.
Despite the monies spent on this, there have been reports of poor feeding across unity schools in the country.
Parents had been reported as lamenting poor quality of food given to their children by authorities of the Unity schools.
School feeding programmes have a history of controversy and allegations of corruption in Nigeria.
In January 2024, President Bola Tinubu suspended some programmes under the National Social Investment Programme Agency, citing allegations of corruption.
Part of the programms suspended for at least six weeks was the home grown school feeding programme.
Although federal government school feeding programs precedes the current administration, homegrown school feeding programme was first introduced in 2005.
However, all through the years, the same challenges of corruption persisted.
For instance, in 2020, the Nigerian government ordered an investigation on how school feeding fund to the tune of N2.67billion found its way into individual accounts.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) noted that monies were paid for the school feeding programme even when schools were not on session.