Audit Query Raises Concerns Over New $1bn Cash Transfer as N33.75bn in 2023 Payments Cannot Be Verified

Fresh concerns have emerged over the federal government’s newly launched $1 billion cash transfer programme, after the Auditor-General for the Federation queried N33.75 billion disbursed to more than 3.29 million households in 2023.

The concerns are contained in the 2024 _Annual Report on Non-Compliance and Internal Control Weaknesses in MDAs_, which examined transactions of the National Cash Transfer Office, NCTO, Abuja, for the 2023 financial year. The report was transmitted to the National Assembly on July 17, 2026.

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

However, auditors said the NCTO failed to provide sufficient records to establish the identities of recipients or reconcile the payments with official beneficiary registers.

*Audit Faults Poor Documentation, Obstruction*

The auditors noted that payment vouchers lacked complete beneficiary details, while records required to verify the transfers were not made available.

They specifically faulted the NCTO for failing to produce a Remita statement showing the actual beneficiaries who received funds, as against those listed on the registers.

“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’s office further alleged that officials obstructed the audit.

“All efforts to obtain access to the REMITA statement were obstructed and denied by NCTO accounts staff, thereby frustrating the audit process,” it said.

The auditors said the findings violated the Financial Regulations 2009. Paragraph 613 requires paying officers to ensure recipients are duly authorised, while Paragraph 603(i) mandates that vouchers contain full particulars and supporting documents.

*$1bn HOPE-SP Programme Launched Amid Audit*

Despite the audit query, the federal government recently launched the $1 billion _Household Prosperity and Empowerment Social Protection Project_, HOPE-SP, at the State House Banquet Hall in Abuja. The project is designed to shift vulnerable Nigerians from temporary relief to lasting economic empowerment.

Four additional programmes were also unveiled to strengthen the nation’s humanitarian and poverty-reduction framework.

*Context: Register Credibility and NSIPA Suspension*

The audit comes years after state governors at a 2023 National Economic Council meeting requested the disbandment of the National Social Register over credibility concerns and called for a new register.

Then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Sani Gwarzo, defended the register at the time, saying it “might not be as accurate as expected” but was “a starting point.”

In January 2024, President Bola Tinubu suspended all programmes under the National Social Investment Programme Agency, NSIPA, amid investigations into alleged corruption in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. The suspension led to the removal of the then minister, Dr. Betta Edu.

*Poverty Rate Hits 64% in 2025*

The audit concerns come as poverty in Nigeria continues to rise.

According to the World Bank’s _Nigeria Development Update, April 2026_, titled “Nigeria’s Tomorrow Must Start Today: The Case for Early Childhood Development,” the national poverty rate climbed to an estimated 64 per cent in 2025.

The rate rose from 40 per cent in 2019 to 45 per cent in 2020, 47 per cent in 2021, 51 per cent in 2022, 56 per cent in 2023 and 61 per cent in 2024. It is projected to remain at 64 per cent in 2026 before declining to 61 per cent in 2027 and 59 per cent in 2028.

The number of poor Nigerians also rose from 80 million in 2019 to a projected 160 million in 2025 and 2026. Those in extreme poverty increased from 30 million in 2019 to about 78 million in 2025.

The World Bank projects that poverty will begin to decline gradually as inflation eases and growth improves, with real GDP expected to average 4.2 per cent between 2026 and 2028.

*Experts, CSOs Demand Accountability*

Dr. Umar Yakubu, Executive Director of the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity, CEPTI, said the report exposes “institutionalized impunity.”

“When administrative staff actively obstruct auditors from accessing Remita records and multi-billion-naira transactions bypass mandatory pre-audits, we are looking at a system that shields corruption from public scrutiny,” he said. “Social intervention programmes cannot function as opaque conduits for unverified expenditures.”

Dr. Jackson Omenazu, Chancellor of the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights, ISSJHR, described the inability to verify the transfers as a “serious warning.”

“If public money cannot be independently audited, Nigerians have a legitimate right to ask: who is accountable for the money and where did it go?” he said.

ISSJHR demanded the immediate publication of details of the N33.7 billion transfers, an independent forensic audit, and unrestricted access for oversight bodies to all records.

The group urged the government to suspend further disbursements until accountability issues are resolved. If the $1 billion HOPE-SP proceeds, it said safeguards must include transparent procurement, beneficiary verification, independent monitoring, and periodic public reporting. It also called for recovery and prosecution where misappropriation is established.