THE Federal Government has ordered an investigation into the alleged missing N2.67bn school feeding funds.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, said this was to determine the veracity of the claim of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
The ICPC had said N2.67 billion released to Federal Government Colleges for school feeding during the lockdown were found in personal accounts.
The Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong, said the principals of the 104 unity colleges had explained that payments on meal subsidies to Unity Colleges on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, (GIFMIS) platform was designed to accommodate individual officers of those colleges who were officially allowed to receive such payments for onward disbursement to food vendors.
This, they said, was as a result of difficulties, which farmers, local food vendors and market women, who had no Tax Identification Numbers (TIN), PENCOM, and other requirements to access the payment platform, faced.
The principals were also quoted to have linked the payments made during the lockdown period to debts owed food vendors.
Some of the debts, they added, had been owed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that some of them were still pending.
The statement said, “The investigation is to establish the veracity of the claims to ensure that there is no diversion of public funds or misappropriation of same.
“To this end, the ministry in line with the Minister’s directive is to collaborate effectively with officials of the ICPC to unearth the facts as well as find a lasting solution to the payment system for meal subsidies that will ensure accountability and transparency.”
