The Minister of Education, Adamu, has ordered an investigation into the report by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC) on tracing to personal account the sum of N2.67 billion meant for the feeding of unity college students during Covid-19 lockdown.
According to a release by the Director of Press of the Ministry, Ben Goong, obtained by Boldscholar, the Minister had earlier issued queries to the principals of the 104 unity schools, and the officers, in response, explained that “payments on meal subsidies to Unity Colleges on the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, (GIFMIS) platform is designed to accommodate individual officers of those colleges who are officially recognized to receive such payments and disburse same to food vendors.”
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The Principals explained that the reason for authorising the respective school officers to receive the fund first was for the sake of some of the food vendors and suppliers who do not have the requirements, such as Tax Identification Numbers (TIN), PENCOM, etc, for accessing the payment platform.
In further explanation, the school Principals stated that the payments made during the lockdown, which is the focus of the ICPC, were mainly backlog of debts owed food vendors before COVID 19 pandemic.
The Ministry has therefore launched a full scale investigation into the allegation by the ICPC.
“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,” according the press release signed by Mr. Goong.
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