“Tinubu Govt Can’t Account For ₦33.75bn Cash Transfers To 3.29m Nigerians” – Auditor-General Reveals

The Federal Government could not provide sufficient evidence to auditors that N33.75bn in cash transfers meant for 3,295,207 vulnerable households actually reached genuine beneficiaries, according to the Auditor General for the Federation’s 2024 Annual Report.

The report, which reviewed transactions at the National Cash Transfer Office NTCO for the 2023 financial year, said electronic transfers totalling N33.751bn were made to beneficiaries across 35 states.

However, auditors said the paid vouchers lacked full beneficiary details, while the Remita statement needed to reconcile those paid with persons on the National Social Register NSR and National Beneficiary Register NBR was not provided.

“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.

It further alleged that efforts to obtain the payment records were blocked, stating, “All efforts to obtain access to the REMITA statement were obstructed and denied by NTCO accounts staff, thereby frustrating the audit process.”

The Auditor General warned of possible loss of public funds and payments to ineligible or fictitious persons, recommending that the National Programme Manager account for the N33.75bn before the National Assembly or recover and remit the funds to the Treasury.

The audit also queried N36.74bn paid through 215 vouchers without prepayment audit, warning of possible misapplication and diversion of public funds.

Another N4.616bn in 101 payments lacked supporting vouchers, while N350.18m disbursed for enrolment of unbanked beneficiaries across states remained unaccounted for.

The report also raised concerns over N393.71m reportedly returned by nine states, saying there was no evidence it was credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

For all eight audit issues, the NTCO management reportedly failed to respond to the queries.

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