The National Cash Transfer Office has been queried over ₦76.24 billion in transactions, including ₦33.75 billion in reported payments to beneficiaries that auditors could not verify because of incomplete records and denied access to payment statements.
The findings appear in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2024 report on non-compliance and internal control weaknesses, covering transactions conducted in 2023. According to an analysis by UDEME, a project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, the report raised eight queries against the office.
The NCTO reported distributing ₦33.75 billion to approximately 3.29 million households and beneficiaries across 35 states. However, auditors said payment vouchers lacked complete recipient details. They also reported being denied access to Remita statements needed to establish whether the funds reached eligible beneficiaries on the National Social Register.
“All efforts to obtain access to the REMITA statement were obstructed and denied by NCTO accounts staff, thereby frustrating the audit process,” the report stated. The auditor-general warned that the missing records exposed public funds to possible loss and prevented confirmation that recipients were genuine beneficiaries.
The report recommended that National Programme Manager Abdullahi Imam account for the funds and provide evidence of receipt to the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committees. It also recommended recovery and remittance to the Treasury. In another query, auditors identified 215 payment vouchers worth ₦36.74 billion processed in December 2023 without the required prepayment audit checks.
Although a World Bank project document provided for compliance and operational audits without a prepayment audit system, the auditor-general maintained that the arrangement breached Nigeria’s Financial Regulations. Auditors also flagged 101 payments totalling ₦4.62 billion for which corresponding payment vouchers were not presented, preventing verification of the expenditure.
Further concerns involved ₦3.09 billion transferred to states to enrol unbanked, poor and vulnerable households. The report said documents were provided for ₦2.74 billion, leaving ₦350.18 million unaccounted for. It also described the supporting records as inadequate, citing missing beneficiary lists, attendance registers and activity reports.
A separate query concerned ₦393.71 million reportedly returned by nine State Cash Transfer Units after enrolment exercises could not take place. The NCTO attributed the disruption to insecurity, disasters and other factors. However, auditors said it did not provide statements or payment slips confirming that the refunds reached the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The report also questioned ₦280.42 million paid to service providers as mobilisation advances without advance payment guarantees. Auditors said the contract files lacked procurement records needed to establish that the providers were selected through due process.
According to the report, the NCTO did not respond to some queries, while responses submitted on others were considered unsatisfactory. The audit findings identify failures in documentation, verification and financial controls. They do not, by themselves, establish that every questioned payment was stolen or diverted.
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has filed a suit at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice seeking accountability for approximately ₦78.8 billion in questioned expenditure involving cash-transfer and social-protection programmes. The amount includes ₦76.24 billion flagged at the NCTO and ₦2.55 billion at the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office.
SERAP is seeking financial disclosure, investigations and recovery of any funds found to have been unlawfully spent, arguing that failures in oversight undermine the rights of vulnerable Nigerians. The NCTO administers conditional cash transfers under the World Bank-financed National Social Safety Nets Project, which supports poor households identified through the National Social Register.
