Tinubu Government Cannot Prove N33.75billion Cash Transfers Reached 3million Beneficiaries, Says Auditor-general Report

The report raised eight audit queries involving billions of naira and identified major weaknesses in the office’s financial controls.

The President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government has failed to provide sufficient evidence that N33.75 billion in cash transfers made to more than 3,290,000 vulnerable households in 2023 actually reached genuine beneficiaries, the Auditor-General for the Federation has disclosed.

The revelation was contained in the Auditor-General’s 2024 Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies, which reviewed transactions at the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO), Abuja, for the 2023 financial year.

The report raised eight audit queries involving billions of naira and identified major weaknesses in the office’s financial controls.

According to the report, electronic transfers totalling N33.751billion were made to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries listed on the National Social Register (NSR) and enrolled on the National Beneficiary Register (NBR) across 35 states.

However, auditors said the payment vouchers lacked full beneficiary details, while the Remita statement needed to reconcile recipients with those listed on the registers was not provided.

The report stated, “Electronic transfers amounting to N33,751,080,000.00 were made to 3,295,207 households/beneficiaries that have been mined to the NSR and enrolled on the NBR in 35 states for the year 2023.”

It added: “The paid vouchers for the payments above did not contain the full details of the beneficiaries.”

The auditors said the absence of the Remita statement made it impossible to authenticate the payments.

“REMITA statement showing record of the beneficiaries paid as against those listed on the NSR and NBR was not presented for audit. This hindered the authentication of the payments and made it difficult to ascertain whether the beneficiaries who received the funds were genuine,” the report said.

It further stated that attempts to obtain the records were obstructed by accounts officials.

“All efforts to obtain access to the REMITA statement were obstructed and denied by NTCO accounts staff, thereby frustrating the audit process,” the report stated.

The Auditor-General identified possible payments to ineligible or fictitious persons and loss of public funds as risks. It recommended that the National Programme Manager account to the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees for the N33.75 billion and provide evidence that beneficiaries received the money.

The report also recommended recovery and remittance of the funds to the Treasury if they could not be satisfactorily accounted for. The NCTO management, it noted, failed to respond to the query.

Auditors also queried N36.744 billion paid through 215 vouchers relating to SS, IDA and output-based transactions in December 2023.

The payments were made without internal audit checks or prepayment audit.

“None of the paid vouchers were pre-audited or checked by the Internal Audit as required by extant regulations,” the report said.

Instead, the Internal Audit Unit conducted checks after payment. The auditors warned of possible misapplication and diversion of public funds and recommended that the N36.74 billion be accounted for before the National Assembly.

Another 101 payments totalling N4.616 billion made from the NCTO’s S&S/IDA Cash Book could not be supported with paid vouchers. The auditors again warned of possible diversion and recommended that the funds be accounted for or recovered and remitted to the Treasury.

The report also found that N350.18 million disbursed to states for enrolment of unbanked beneficiaries was not satisfactorily accounted for.

Of N3.09 billion paid in 32 transactions to states, documents covering N2.74 billion disbursed to 34 states were presented, leaving N350.18 million unsupported.

The vouchers were described as vague, with no beneficiary lists, photographs, attendance registers, enrolment reports or acknowledgements from recipients attached.

The Auditor-General recommended recovery of the N350.18 million if it remained unaccounted for.

Similarly, N393.71 million returned by nine State Cash Transfer Units was not supported by evidence showing that it was credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

“No documents were presented by NCTO to confirm that the amount refunded… was credited into the CRF,” the report said.

Remita inflow statements and payment slips were also not provided, while there was no evidence that the affected states later conducted the enrolment exercises.

The NCTO also paid N280.42 million as a 30 per cent mobilisation to Payment Service Providers without an Advance Payment Guarantee. Auditors found no evidence of due process, including pre-qualification documents, bidding records or technical and financial evaluations. They recommended recovery of the money over risks of payment for jobs not done and diversion.

Store items worth N89.51 million purchased by the office were not entered in its store ledger. No Store Receipt or Store Issue Vouchers were attached, while the ledger had not been updated since 2020.

The office also spent N17.42 million on diesel through cash advances to staff instead of contract awards, despite the expenditure exceeding the N200,000 procurement threshold. The diesel could neither be sighted nor traced to the stores, while the procurement method resulted in an estimated N2.18 million in foregone VAT and Withholding Tax revenue.

For all eight audit queries, the report said NCTO management failed to respond.

The findings come amid increased scrutiny of Nigeria’s social intervention programme. Nigeria has drawn an additional $208.29 million from the World Bank’s $800 million National Social Safety Net Programme-Scale Up, bringing cumulative disbursements to about $744.61 million, or 93.1 per cent of the facility.

The programme was designed to expand Nigeria’s social safety net and provide cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households. Following the 2023 petrol subsidy removal, the government revised the original N5,000 monthly payment to N25,000 for three months, targeting 15 million households.

The programme has faced controversies over alleged financial mismanagement. The EFCC investigated an alleged N37.1 billion fraud under former minister Sadiya Umar-Farouq. Her successor, Betta Edu, was suspended after a N585 million transfer to a private account was reported, while former NSIPA head Halima Shehu was arrested over alleged movement of N44 billion from agency accounts.

In 2025, the World Bank had said only 37 per cent of targeted households had benefitted from the conditional cash transfer programme.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has demanded that the Federal Government reconcile conflicting beneficiary figures and publish verified household records, payment tranches, state-by-state distributions, failed transactions and reversals.

SOURCE: SAHARA REPORTERS