A WikkiTimes review of Bauchi state budget performance documents has shown that the state spent N6.490 billion on food, meal subsidies, refreshment and entertainment in 2023.
The review shows that meal subsidies to public and public institutions in 2023 stood at N1.248 billion.
The food and catering materials initial proposed budget stood at N202 million, however, the final approved budget provided N4.754 billion for the purpose, representing an over 2000% increase. Of the amount, N4.564 billion was spent at the end of the year for foodstuffs and catering materials.
Under its miscellaneous expenses, another sum of N531 million was expended on refreshment and meals, while entertainment allowances stood at N37 million.
Under its allowances and social contribution section, the state recorded that it spent a total sum of N112 million on “Meal subsidy allowance”, amounting to N6.490 billion spent for the year on meal subsidies, food stuffs, entertainment and refreshment.
It has been reported on multiple occasions that Bauchi state as part of its intervention invests in food items. For instance, after the removal of fuel subsidy, the state noted that it distributed food items to 10,764 persons.
Foodstuffs, a major priority for Bauchi?
Further data review shows that while for instance “Foodstuffs and catering materials” expenses throughout the year gulped N4.562 billion, the state expenses on other critical sectors falls short off this.
For instance, in the same year, the state spent N1.302 billion on provision of water facilities.
Bauchi spent more on foodstuffs and catering than it spent on provision of hospitals and health centres, with N1.414 billion expenditure for these purposes.
It only spent N239 million for the provision of agricultural facilities for the year.
WIKKIDATA: Profiling Bauchi’s Eight Year Romance with Loans, Public Debt Charges
Also the expenditure for construction of ICT centres stood only at N34.174 million for the whole year .
The addition of all these expenses for these sectors amount to N2.9 billion, that is N1.6 billion less than what it spent on foodstuffs and catering alone.
The state spent only N690 million for repairs of schools for the whole year, meaning that it spent six times what it spent on public schools repairs on food stuffs and catering.
WikkiTimes has earlier reported that the debt portfolio of the state remains one of the highest in the Northern region of the country.
This investigation is produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) and funded by MacArthur Foundation.
