The President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government has failed to provide sufficient evidence showing that N33.75 billion transferred to more than 3.29 million vulnerable households in 2023 actually reached genuine beneficiaries, according to the Auditor-General for the Federation.
The revelation is contained in the Auditor-General’s 2024 Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies, following an audit of transactions at the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO), Abuja, for the 2023 financial year.
The report raised eight separate audit queries involving billions of naira and identified significant weaknesses in the financial management and internal control systems of the office.
According to the report, electronic transfers amounting to N33.751 billion were made to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries reportedly mined into the National Social Register (NSR) and enrolled on the National Beneficiary Register (NBR) across 35 states.
However, auditors said the payment vouchers did not contain complete beneficiary information, while the Remita statement required to reconcile the actual recipients with the names on the NSR and NBR was not made available for verification.
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 that “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 and establish whether the funds went to legitimate beneficiaries.
“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 stated.
The Auditor-General further disclosed that attempts by auditors to obtain the Remita records were allegedly obstructed by accounts officials at the NCTO.
“All efforts to obtain access to the REMITA statement were obstructed and denied by NTCO accounts staff, thereby frustrating the audit process,” the report said.
The auditors identified the possibility of payments being made to ineligible or fictitious persons as a major risk, alongside the potential loss of public funds.
Consequently, the Auditor-General recommended that the National Programme Manager appear before the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly to account for the N33.75 billion and provide documentary evidence that the beneficiaries received the money.
The report further recommended that any portion of the funds that could not be satisfactorily accounted for should be recovered and remitted to the Treasury.
The management of the National Cash Transfer Office, according to the report, failed to respond to the audit query.
The auditors also queried N36.744 billion paid through 215 vouchers relating to social safety, IDA and output-based transactions in December 2023.
The payments, the report said, were made without the required 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 stated.
Instead, the Internal Audit Unit reportedly carried out checks after the payments had already been made.
Auditors warned that the practice exposed the funds to possible misapplication and diversion and recommended that the N36.74 billion be fully accounted for before the National Assembly.
Another N4.616 billion involving 101 payments from the NCTO’s S&S/IDA Cash Book could not be supported with paid vouchers.
The auditors again raised concerns over possible diversion of public funds and recommended that the money be properly accounted for or recovered and remitted to the Treasury where it could not be satisfactorily justified.
The report also raised questions over N350.18 million disbursed to states for the enrolment of unbanked beneficiaries.
Of the N3.09 billion paid in 32 transactions to states, documents covering N2.74 billion disbursed to 34 states were presented to the auditors, leaving N350.18 million without satisfactory supporting documentation.
According to the report, the vouchers were vague and were not accompanied by essential records such as beneficiary lists, photographs, attendance registers, enrolment reports or acknowledgements from recipients.
The Auditor-General therefore recommended recovery of the N350.18 million if the amount could not be properly accounted for.
Similarly, N393.71 million reportedly returned by nine State Cash Transfer Units was not supported by evidence showing that the money had been 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 stated.
Auditors also said Remita inflow statements and payment slips were not provided. There was equally no evidence that the affected states subsequently carried out the enrolment exercises for which the funds had been disbursed.
The NCTO was further queried over N280.42 million paid as a 30 per cent mobilisation to Payment Service Providers without an Advance Payment Guarantee.
The auditors said they found no evidence of key due-process requirements, including pre-qualification documents, bidding records and technical and financial evaluation reports.
They warned that the payment exposed government to the risk of paying for services or jobs that might not have been delivered and possible diversion of public funds.
The auditors consequently recommended recovery of the money where the payment could not be justified.
The report also revealed that store items valued at N89.51 million purchased by the office were not recorded in its store ledger.
No Store Receipt Vouchers or Store Issue Vouchers were attached to the transactions, while the store ledger had reportedly not been updated since 2020.
Another N17.42 million was spent on diesel through cash advances to staff rather than through contract awards, despite the expenditure exceeding the N200,000 procurement threshold.
The auditors said the diesel purchased could neither be sighted nor traced to the stores.
They further estimated that the procurement method resulted in about N2.18 million in foregone Value Added Tax and Withholding Tax revenue.
For all eight audit queries, the report stated that the NCTO management failed to provide responses to the issues raised by the auditors.
The findings come amid heightened scrutiny of Nigeria’s social intervention programmes and the management of funds meant to support poor and vulnerable households.
Nigeria has also drawn an additional $208.29 million from the World Bank’s $800 million National Social Safety Net Programme-Scale Up facility, bringing cumulative disbursements to approximately $744.61 million, representing about 93.1 per cent of the facility.
The programme was designed to expand Nigeria’s social protection system and provide financial assistance to poor and vulnerable households.
Following the removal of the petrol subsidy in 2023, the Federal Government revised the proposed N5,000 monthly cash transfer to N25,000 for three months, with an expanded target of 15 million households.
However, the cash-transfer programme has been dogged by controversy and allegations surrounding the management and utilisation of public funds.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission investigated an alleged N37.1 billion fraud involving the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development under former minister Sadiya Umar-Farouq.
Her successor, Betta Edu, was suspended after a N585 million payment to a private account came under scrutiny, while former National Social Investment Programme Authority head, Halima Shehu, was arrested in connection with allegations involving the movement of N44 billion from agency accounts.
The World Bank also stated in 2025 that only 37 per cent of households targeted under the conditional cash-transfer programme had benefited.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has consequently demanded that the Federal Government reconcile conflicting figures surrounding the beneficiaries of the programme and publish verified household records, payment tranches, state-by-state distributions, failed transactions and reversals.
The latest audit findings are likely to intensify calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s social intervention funds, particularly given the scale of public resources committed to the programme and the government’s stated objective of cushioning the impact of economic hardship on vulnerable Nigerians.