The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has called on President Bola Tinubu to instruct the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the National Cash Transfer Office, and the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office to explain more than N78.8 billion in public funds that a federal audit found were diverted, unaccounted for, or improperly spent.
The demand follows the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2024 Annual Report, released August 7, 2026, which examined spending across 2023 and through the end of 2024.
In a letter dated September 5 and signed by Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP asked the government to release full payment records for the N33.75 billion disbursed in 2023 cash transfers, including beneficiary names, verification steps, and reconciliation data, and to clarify why REMITA payment records were withheld from auditors.
The group also wants answers on N36.7 billion paid out without a required prepayment audit, N4.6 billion in expenditures lacking supporting documentation, and smaller sums tied to enrollment payments, store purchases, and diesel advances.
SERAP is pressing anti-corruption agencies to investigate roughly N76.2 billion in questionable spending at the cash transfer office and N2.55 billion at the safety nets coordinating office, and to ensure any misused funds are recovered and returned to the treasury.
The organization argued that anyone found responsible should face sanctions regardless of rank, and said the ministry should publish a public schedule detailing recovered amounts, recovery dates, and the treasury accounts involved.
Among the audit’s specific findings: the cash transfer office paid N33.75 billion to more than 3.29 million households across 35 states without documentation confirming the money reached recipients, and could not produce the REMITA statements needed to verify payments.
Auditors also flagged N89.5 million spent on store items never logged in inventory records last updated in 2020, N350 million sent to state coordinators for beneficiary enrollment that went unaccounted for, and N280 million paid to payment service providers without the required advance guarantees or evidence of proper vendor selection.
The safety nets office faced similar findings, including N2.24 billion paid through vouchers without prepayment review, payments for laptops and advertisements that couldn’t be verified as delivered, and software payments made without required regulatory clearance.
SERAP gave the government seven days to act, warning it would pursue the matter before the ECOWAS Court and the World Bank’s Inspection Panel if there was no response.
The group cited constitutional provisions on public welfare and anti-corruption, along with Nigeria’s obligations under UN and African Union anti-corruption treaties, in arguing that the scale of undocumented spending in a program meant to help the country’s poorest citizens warrants urgent scrutiny.
