Civil society organization, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has formally called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct relevant anti-corruption and security agencies to investigate over ₦78.8 billion in public funds allegedly diverted, unaccounted for, or irregularly spent under the Federal Government’s cash transfer programme.
The request was contained in a formal petition dated September 5, 2026, and made public via a statement issued on Sunday, September 6, 2026. The letter, signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, cited grave financial irregularities documented in the 2024 Annual Report of the Auditor-General of the Federation, which was published on August 7, 2026.
The audit findings cover financial activities executed between January 2023 and December 2024. According to the petition, SERAP requested President Tinubu to direct the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO), and the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) to account for and publish the full audit trail of all disbursed funds.
The Auditor-General’s report detailed questionable transactions split predominantly between the NCTO (₦76.24 billion) and NASSCO (₦2.55 billion): ₦33.751 billion reportedly disbursed in 2023 to 3,295,207 households across 35 states lacked REMITA payment statements or proof of physical receipt by genuine beneficiaries.
The NCTO allegedly paid ₦36.74 billion in December 2023 without mandatory prepayment audits or internal controls. Over ₦4.61 billion in unsupported expenditures, ₦280.42 million in advance payments to service providers without bank guarantees, ₦350.18 million for enrolment, and cash advances of ₦17.42 million to staff for diesel purchases.
NASSCO disbursed ₦2.24 billion through 158 vouchers lacking prepayment audits, paid ₦44.55 million for undelivered laptops, ₦141.01 million to contractors for software without National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) clearance, and ₦19.76 million for unverified media advertisements.
Kolawole Oluwadare emphasized that failing to account for these funds severely undermines public trust and deprives Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens of critical social safety nets. ”Every naira identified in the report must be properly accounted for, and any public funds found to have been diverted, misapplied, or paid to ineligible or fictitious beneficiaries must be fully recovered and remitted to the Treasury,” Oluwadare stated in the letter.
SERAP urged the administration to establish an independent mechanism to receive complaints from targeted beneficiaries who never received disbursements. The group also asked the Federal Government to publish a state-by-state breakdown of all disbursements, administrative costs, and an updated, anonymized register of program beneficiaries.
The organization issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Presidency from the date of receipt of the letter. SERAP warned that if the requested probes, asset recoveries, and prosecutions are not initiated within the week, it will initiate legal proceedings against the Federal Government before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice and file formal complaints with the World Bank Accountability Mechanism.
