Katsina State’s budget performance documents have revealed that the state spent N1.1 billion on foodstuffs and catering materials supply in the first nine months of 2024.
Breaking it down, that’s an average of N132 million every month on food and catering supplies. This expense surpasses the state’s spending on its Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism’s capital expenditure during the same period.
The state spent N425.8 million on capital expenditure for its Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism during the period under review.
Similarly, what the state spent on foodstuffs is more than what it spent on capital expenditure for the Ministry of Justice, which stood at N63.9 million.
Meanwhile, N842 million was spent on capital expenditure for the Judicial Service Commission, which is lower than the N1.1 billion spent on the foodstuffs/catering in nine months.
Also, N156.7 million was spent on the state’s primary healthcare board while N200 million was spent on its rural water supply and sanitation agency, an amount also less than the expenditure on foodstuffs and catering materials supply.
This development on prioritization of foodstuffs is despite 61% of households in the state lacking access to sanitary facilities, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
According to the NBS date, 31% lack access to clean drinking water. SaharaReporters