The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has called on President Bola Tinubu to order an investigation into more than ₦78.8bn allegedly diverted, unaccounted for or irregularly spent under the Federal Government’s cash transfer programme.
SERAP made the demand in a letter dated September 5, 2026, signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, according to a statement issued by the organisation on Sunday.
The group also asked the President to direct the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction and the National Cash Transfer Office to disclose comprehensive records and an audit trail of the ₦33.751bn cash transfers made in 2023.
It specifically requested that the agencies “publish the full records and audit trail of the ₦33.751 billion 2023 cash transfers, including the name of the beneficiaries, payments, verification, authorisations and reconciliation, and to explain the failure to provide REMITA records to the Auditor-General.”
SERAP further urged the two agencies “to account for the ₦36.744 billion payments made without prepayment audit, the ₦4.616 billion in unsupported expenditures, the ₦350.182 million enrolment payments, the ₦89.511 million store purchases and the ₦17.422 million diesel advances.”
The organisation equally called on Tinubu to direct anti-corruption agencies to investigate “the ₦76.24 billion in questionable and unaccounted-for expenditures at NCTO and ₦2.55 billion at the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office.”
SERAP said the allegations were contained in the 2024 Annual Report of the Auditor-General of the Federation, published on August 7, 2026. The report examined several transactions covering periods between January and December 2023, with the audit period ending on December 31, 2024.
According to SERAP, the Auditor-General identified concerns over the NCTO’s payment of ₦33.751bn in cash transfers to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries across 35 states in 2023 without adequate evidence that the funds were received by the intended beneficiaries.
“SERAP is particularly concerned about the Auditor-General’s finding that the NCTO made ₦33.751 billion in cash transfers to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries in 35 states in 2023 without evidence confirming receipt of the money by the beneficiaries.
“The Auditor-General found that the NCTO failed to provide REMITA statements needed to authenticate the payments and establish whether the beneficiaries were genuine and eligible. The audit report also raised concerns about incomplete beneficiary information and frustration of the audit process,” the statement read.
The rights organisation said the government should compare the payments with the National Social Register and National Beneficiary Register and conduct independent checks to establish the identities and eligibility of beneficiaries.
It added that the exercise should identify duplicate, fictitious, deceased, ineligible or otherwise irregular beneficiaries.
SERAP also cited the Auditor-General’s concerns over ₦4.616bn spent by the NCTO without sufficient supporting documents.
“According to the Auditor-General’s report, the NCTO paid ₦4.616 billion for various expenditures without adequate supporting documentation. The Auditor-General is concerned that ‘the money may have been diverted.’”
The group said the audit further revealed that ₦36.74bn was paid by the NCTO in December 2023 without prepayment or internal audit checks.
It also pointed to ₦89.51m allegedly spent on store items that were neither delivered nor recorded in the store ledger, as well as ₦350.18m paid to state coordinators for enrolling unbanked beneficiaries without adequate documentation.
Other issues highlighted by SERAP included ₦17.42m given to staff as cash advances for diesel, ₦280.42m paid to payment service providers as mobilisation and advance payments without advance payment guarantees, and ₦393.71m reportedly disbursed to nine states for beneficiary enrolment but left unutilised.
On the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office, SERAP cited several questionable expenditures, including ₦2.24bn paid through 158 vouchers without prepayment audit, ₦44.55m spent on laptops that were not delivered or recorded in the store ledger, and ₦19.76m paid for advertisements without evidence that they were published.
The organisation also alleged that ₦141.01m was paid to two contractors for software without clearance from the National Information Technology Development Agency.
SERAP said the Auditor-General’s findings extended to transactions involving the National Social Register, procurement of materials, insurance premiums and other expenditures for which adequate documentation or proof of delivery was reportedly unavailable.
According to the organisation, the findings point to “repeated failures of basic financial and administrative controls,” including missing financial and procurement records, payments for goods and services that could not be verified, inadequate beneficiary records and unexplained public expenditure.
SERAP urged the Federal Government to publish a detailed schedule of funds recovered, including the amounts recovered, dates of recovery, institutions responsible and the Treasury accounts into which the money was paid.
The organisation also called for the publication of sufficiently detailed but anonymised information on cash-transfer beneficiaries, while ensuring that appropriate data-protection and privacy safeguards are maintained.
SERAP gave the government seven days from the receipt or publication of its letter to act on the demands.
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions and measures including before the ECOWAS Court, and the Inspection Panel, World Bank Accountability Mechanism to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.
“There is a legitimate public interest in ensuring justice and accountability for these very serious allegations,” SERAP said.
