The Zamfara State Government has denied claims that it allocated N19.3 billion for kitchen equipment in its 2024 budget, dismissing the report as misleading and false.
On Tuesday, an online platform alleged that a review of Zamfara’s budget performance document revealed the state had set aside N19.3 billion for the purchase of kitchen and canteen equipment in the 2024 fiscal year.
Addressing the issue during a press briefing in Gusau, the state capital, Mallam Abdulmalik Gajam, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, expressed disappointment with the false report. He clarified that the N19.3 billion was budgeted for various educational projects under the Ministry of Education, not kitchen equipment.
He said, “the news platform that peddled the fake news pushed half-baked statistics, omitting the vital information from the complete budget performance document.
“The breakdown of N19.3 billion was budgeted under the Ministry of Education, and it is under the category of capital expenditure.
“The name canteen & kitchen is a fixed asset purchase the coded name of a particular category of multiple expenditures which contain a provision on the Agile programme, construction of zonal primary schools, provision of smart primary school in Gusau, procurement of kitchen utensil for all government schools for 40 million, construction of teachers’ training centre and creation of teachers development funding scheme.
“All this put together is what constituted 19.3 billion.”
The Commissioner further stressed that Governor Lawal’s administration came to reduce the abuse of public funds and block leakages.
“We would not be found wanting in relation to such mismanagement and irresponsibility,” he said.
(allnews.ng)
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