If necessary and urgent amendments are not made, students of Federal government owned Unity Schools may go hungry for half the year, while staff of Kings College, Lagos may not get paid for almost the whole of 2016.


The Vanguard reports that the Senate yesterday uncovered a N5 billion shortfall in the amount allocated as meal subsidy for Unity Schools across the country, as well as a huge cut in the allocation of  personnel cost of Kings College in the 2016 budget proposal submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to the Senate, only N6.8 billion was proposed for meal subsidy in Unity Schools, instead of the required N11.2 billion. It also noted that the amount was grossly inadequate for the Unity Schools meal subsidy, adding that the implication was that the amount provided would only feed the students for six months, after which  N5 billion would be needed to meet up with the shortfall.

Disclosing this yesterday during the presentation of the 2016 budget of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education to the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Vice Chairman of the Committee on Education, Senator Rose Oko, said there was the omission of N338 million from the personnel cost of Kings College, adding that instead of N375 million, the  ministry budgeted N37 million due to typographical error.