By Benson Daniel
The African Democratic Congress and the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria have challenged the Federal Government to account for billions of naira disbursed under its social investment programmes after an audit raised questions over the beneficiaries of a ₦33.75 billion cash transfer scheme.
The Auditor General for the Federation reported that electronic payments totalling ₦33.751 billion were made to 3,295,207 households across 35 states in 2023 under the National Cash Transfer Programme.
However, auditors said the government could not provide sufficient records to establish that the money reached genuine beneficiaries. The report noted that payment vouchers contained incomplete beneficiary information, while the Remita statements required to reconcile the payments with names on the relevant beneficiary registers were not provided.
Reacting to the findings, the ADC called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to publish details of the beneficiaries and subject the cash transfer programme to a comprehensive audit.
The party also questioned the circumstances surrounding a separate ₦585 million transaction linked to former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu, which became a major controversy in 2024.
In a statement, ADC National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi described the latest audit findings as a serious accountability issue and argued that money intended to support poor and vulnerable Nigerians must be fully accounted for.
The party alleged that the latest development was part of a wider pattern of financial irregularities surrounding social intervention programmes. It referenced previous controversies involving the former humanitarian affairs ministry and the National Social Investment Programme Agency.
The ADC also called for a forensic examination of the transactions, including tracing the funds and recovering any money found to have been wrongly paid, diverted or misapplied.
HURIWA similarly demanded greater transparency, saying the audit findings exposed weaknesses in the financial controls surrounding the National Cash Transfer Programme.
The rights group said the inability to authenticate the payments was particularly concerning because the programme was designed to provide direct support to some of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable households.
HURIWA also pointed to additional financial discrepancies identified in the audit and called for a broader review of the programme rather than restricting investigations to the ₦33.75 billion specifically flagged by the Auditor General.
The ₦585 million controversy dates back to January 2024, when President Tinubu suspended Betta Edu after an authorised instruction to transfer the money into a private account for payments to vulnerable groups. The Accountant General rejected the transaction over concerns about compliance with financial regulations.
The development adds fresh pressure on the Federal Government to demonstrate stronger accountability in the management of social intervention funds, particularly as poverty reduction and social protection remain central to its economic policy.
The audit findings do not by themselves establish that the ₦33.75 billion was stolen or diverted. Rather, they show that auditors were unable to adequately verify the payments because of deficiencies in the records supplied for the transactions.
ADC and HURIWA are now demanding that the government address those gaps, identify the beneficiaries involved and explain how the funds were disbursed.
The calls come amid renewed public scrutiny of Nigeria’s social investment programmes and the management of funds meant to cushion the impact of rising living costs on vulnerable households.
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