Senate Uncover N5 Billion Shortfall in Education Ministry Budget

The Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education had uncovered N5bn shortfall in the amount provided for meal subsidy for the unity schools across the country and the personnel cost of King’s College, Lagos in the 2016 budget proposal submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Vice-Chairman of the committee, Senator Rose Oko, said the anomaly was discovered   during the collation of the 2016 budget by the Senate Committee on Appropriation. She explained to the lawmakers that only N6.8bn was proposed for meal subsidy in unity schools instead of N11.2bn needed.

Oko said the amount was inadequate for the unity schools meal subsidy, adding that the implication was that the amount provided would only be enough for six months, adding that the ministry would need to look for N5bn to meet up with the shortfall.

However, she stated that there was an omission of N338m from the personnel cost of King’s College, noting that instead of N375m, the ministry budgeted N37m as a result of typographical errors which brought about the shortfall of N338m.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje, assured Nigerians that the committee would accommodate the omission in the final budget.

He said his panel would find a way of looking for N5bn in order to cater for meal subsidy in unity schools and personnel cost at the King’s College.