While residents of Zamfara State wallow in abject poverty and traumatized by excruciating insecurity, there are reports indicating that the Government of Zamfara State has budgeted N19.3billion for the purchase of kitchen and canteen equipment for the 2024 fiscal year.
According to SaharaReporters the state budgeted N8.4 billion for construction/provision of water facilities for the 2024 fiscal year, N6.1 billion for public schools, even the provision of airport/aerodromes was budgeted at only N8 billion, construction/provision of hospitals and health centres stood at N1.7 billion.
None of the expenditures were up to the N19.3 billion budgeted for purchase of canteen and kitchen equipment by the state for the 2024 fiscal year.
At the ministerial level, the capital budget for the women and social development ministry was only N3.4 billion, the Ministry of Health was N20.6 billion, just above kitchen and canteen equipment purchase by a paltry N1.3 billion, the ministry of environment and natural resources capital budget stands at N5.7 billion, which is less than the N19.3 billion budgeted for kitchen and canteen equipment.
This mis-prioritisation of budgeting is despite unemployment put at 13.7% in Zamfara and underemployment standing at 41.7% per details published by the multidimensional poverty index of the National Bureau of Statistics.
Also, 1.8 million persons in Zamfara are also said to be poor, 44% of children of school age in the state are deprived access to school attendance, 79% lack access to sanitary facilities, while 51% lack access to clean drinking water, per details published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
