WikkiTimes review of Bauchi State budget performance documents has shown that the state spent N6.490 billion on food, meal subsidies, refreshments and entertainment in 2023.
The review shows that meal subsidies to public and public institutions in 2023 stood at N1.248 billion.
The budget initially proposed for food and catering materials stood at N202 million, however, the final approved budget provided N4.754 billion for the purpose, representing over a 2000% increase. Of the amount, N4.564 billion was spent at the end of the year on foodstuffs and catering materials.
Under its miscellaneous expenses, another sum of N531 million was expended on refreshments 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”, totalling the sum of N6.490 billion spent for the year on meal subsidies, foodstuffs, entertainment and refreshments.
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 the fuel subsidy, the state noted that it distributed food items to 10,764 persons.
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 fell short of this.
For instance, in the same year, the state spent N1.302 billion on the provision of water facilities.
Bauchi spent more on foodstuffs and catering than it spent on the 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.
Also, the expenditure for the construction of ICT centres stood at N34.174 million for the year.
The addition of all the expenses for these sectors amounts to N2.9 billion, which 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 school repairs on foodstuffs and catering.
WikkiTimes earlier reported that the debt portfolio of the state remained one of the highest in the Northern region of the country.
