Categories: News

House Of Reps Expresses Anger Over N186bn School Feeding Programme By Federal Government

The House of Representa­tives has ex­pressed serious outrage over the whopping sum of N186 billion reportedly spent by the Federal Government on school feeding programme through the National Condi­tional Cash Transfer Office (NICTO).

During the plenary on Monday, the House Joint Com­mittees on Public Accounts, Health Services and Institu­tion, through its lead chair­man, Oluwole Oke, and other members expressed their disappointment over the ex­penditure at an investigative hearing in Abuja.

The joint panel picked holes in the spending while grill­ing the National Coordinator of the School Feeding Pro­gramme, Mrs. Sinkaye Temi­tope, and National Safety Net Coordinating Officer, Mr. Iowa Apera, over the disburse­ment of the N64 billion out of N186 billion said to have been so far spent on feeding the school pupils alone.

As a result, the panel described the spending as outrageous and unacceptable, de­manding a complete project audit of the programme im­mediately.

The lawmakers were en­raged by a document submit­ted to the committee which showed that the NICTO of­fice received a credit of $400 million from the World Bank, $321 million from Abacha Res­titution, and another $400 mil­lion said to be balance from the government equity fund.

But the National Coordi­nator told the lawmakers that the feeding programme had been ongoing since 2016 when the Ministry of Humanitari­an Affairs initiated it and had so far gulped N186 billion.

She further told the com­mittee that the budget break­down showed that N63.2 bil­lion, N32.2 billion, and N124.4 billion were spent by the office in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respec­tively.

Other committee mem­bers, including Chudi Mo­mah (Anambra, APGA) and Miriam Onuoha (Imo, APC), denounced the report, saying that many schools and com­munities were yet to benefit from the school feeding pro­gramme.

Momah was visibly en­raged as it was documented that 200,000 pupils from dif­ferent families had benefit­ed from it from Ihiala Local Council Area of Anambra State, a claim which he refut­ed.

The Committee chairman, Oke, who also administered an oath to the National Co­ordinator, also said that the Committee would look at the documents submitted, adding that the funds might not have passed through appropriation by the parliament.

Tobias Sylvester

Tobias Sylvester is the news editor for Kanyi Daily News and is based in Lagos. Contact Tobias at editor@kanyidaily.com. Got a confidential tip? Submit it here

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