Civil Society Organisations are urging the Federal Government to investigate the Ministry of Finance’s failure to disburse a N4.9 billion meal subsidy intended for 112 Federal Unity Colleges nationwide.
According to The PUNCH, a monthly sum of N2,478,056,400 was allocated to the 112 colleges.
However, the finance ministry neglected to release the intervention funds for November and December 2023. Payments for January 2024 and subsequent months have been made.
In February 2024, the then Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Didi Walson-Jack—now the Head of Civil Service of the Federation-designate—requested that the finance ministry release the overdue funds.
Walson-Jack highlighted that the non-payment was disrupting the colleges’ operations and exacerbating challenges due to inflation and recurring delays in the subsidy release.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, stressed the importance of investigating the withholding of these funds.
Adeniran suggested that the delay might be due to misappropriation and called for accountability from those responsible.
He emphasized that any bureaucratic issues should have been resolved before the funds became overdue.
Adeniran stated, “It is a fund that ought to have been planned for since a very long time. So, if there is any bureaucratic disturbance, they ought to have ironed it out before it was due not to speak of running it to arrears so those that are in charge should be thoroughly investigated.”
He added, “Everybody involved should be made to account for his role in the delay or in the withholding of that fund, and if anybody has benefited from it, they should be jailed.”
Secretary of the Oyo State chapter of the Joint Action Forum, Abiodun Bamgboye, suggested that preventing such issues in the future would require democratic oversight of resource management.
He proposed that a board consisting of students, parents, and government representatives be established to manage and control resources for all institutions.
