The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has urged President Bola Tinubu to order an urgent investigation into more than ₦78.8bn in public funds allegedly diverted, unaccounted for or irregularly spent under the Federal Government’s cash-transfer and social protection programmes.
SERAP made the demand in a letter dated September 5, 2026, signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, and based its concerns on findings contained in the 2024 Annual Report of the Auditor-General of the Federation, published on August 7, 2026.
The organisation called on Tinubu to direct the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the National Cash Transfer Office and the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office to provide full explanations and supporting records for the funds in question.
A major concern highlighted by SERAP was the NCTO’s disbursement of ₦33.751bn to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries across 35 states in 2023. According to the Auditor-General’s findings cited by SERAP, there was insufficient evidence confirming that the intended beneficiaries actually received the money.
SERAP said the NCTO also failed to provide REMITA statements required to authenticate the payments and establish whether the beneficiaries were genuine and eligible. It therefore urged the Federal Government to reconcile the payments with the National Social Register and National Beneficiary Register and independently verify beneficiaries to identify possible duplicate, fictitious, deceased or otherwise ineligible recipients.
The group also called for an explanation of ₦36.744bn in payments made without prepayment audits, ₦4.616bn in expenditures without adequate supporting documents, ₦350.182m reportedly disbursed for the enrolment of unbanked beneficiaries, ₦89.511m spent on store items that could not be verified and ₦17.422m advanced to staff for diesel purchases.
SERAP further cited ₦280.42m in mobilisation and advance payments to payment service providers without advance payment guarantees, as well as ₦393.71m in funds reportedly disbursed to nine states for beneficiary enrolment but for which the Auditor-General found no evidence that the money was returned to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
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