Students at the Nigerian Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in Kaduna State have voiced frustration over the non-payment of their feeding allowance for the past 12 months. These students, who are enrolled in the Higher National Diploma (HND) programme, claim they have not received their daily Ration Cost Allowance (RCA), which is mandated by the Manual of Financial Administration of Armed Forces of Nigeria (2017).
The allowance is meant to cover feeding expenses and was introduced after the school stopped providing food. According to one of the students, each person is entitled to ₦1,200 daily, totalling ₦432,000 per year. However, none of them has received payment since January.
The student explained that while others in the school, such as Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) and National Diploma (ND) students, are paid their allowances, the HND students have been left out.
He said, “Normally, the school management is supposed to feed us three times daily. But due to the new policy, they said they will stop feeding us but we will be paid our feeding allowance like they give the soldiers. We have been in the school since January and they have not paid us anything for our feeding.”
The student said they are being maltreated in the school and it is no longer bearable. He also noted that none of the school’s senior officers had addressed the issue.
Since January, you did not feed us and you still refuse to pay us. We, the HND students, are not many. We are only 19 students. It is not that we are many that it will be hard for them to take care of us,” he added.
This issue is not limited to AFIT. In October, soldiers studying at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI) in Jaji, Kaduna, also complained about unpaid allowances. They reported that while other military schools had paid their students, NASI had failed to do so.
The RCA, which was increased from ₦1,000 to ₦1,200 in August 2023, is intended to cover feeding costs during activities like residential courses, guard duties, or military operations. Despite the ₦3.25 trillion allocated to the military and security sector in Nigeria’s 2024 budget—a 46 per cent increase from the previous year—many personnel still struggle to receive their entitlements. Additionally, security outcomes have continued to deteriorate.
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