Cash Transfer Office insists N33bn paid to poor Nigerians, not missing

Cash Transfer Office insists N33bn paid to poor Nigerians, not missing 

The management of the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) has dismissed suggestions that the auditor-general’s query of the N33.75 billion disbursements in 2023 indicts the agency of fraud.

NCTO clarified in a statement on Thursday, noting that an audit query or observation is not, by itself, a final determination that public funds were stolen, diverted, misappropriated or lost.

The office of the auditor-general for the federation (OAuGF) had said there was no sufficient evidence to show that N33.75 billion in cash transfers meant for 3.29 million vulnerable households in 2023 reached genuine beneficiaries.

The finding is contained in the OAuGF’s 2024 annual report on non-compliance and internal control weaknesses in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the federal government.

However, NCTO said while it respects the constitutional responsibilities of the OAuGF, it considers it necessary to address in clear terms the impression created by the published observation concerning the electronic cash transfers.

NCTO said the payments were electronic cash transfers made through the established programme payment architecture to identified and eligible beneficiaries.

The office said its cash transfer payment process is governed by “stringent beneficiary identification, validation, authorization and payment controls”.

“Beneficiaries are not paid merely on the basis of names submitted for payment. The payment process operates against beneficiary records maintained within the programme’s beneficiary information systems and payment records and is subject to multiple levels of verification before payment processing,” the statement reads.

“The programme’s payment control architecture is specifically designed to prevent payments outside the approved beneficiary population.

“NCTO therefore strongly rejects any impression that the N33.751 billion represents payments made to unidentified or unverifiable persons.”

The office said beneficiary records underlying the transfers are maintained electronically and can be subjected to data-level reconciliation against the corresponding electronic payment records.

“Given that the programme operates at national scale and involves millions of beneficiary records, these records are appropriately maintained and transmitted electronically,” NCTO said.

“It would be neither practical nor necessary to print millions of beneficiary records and physically attach them to individual payment vouchers where the complete electronic beneficiary and payment audit trail is available for verification.”

NCTO said it has documentary evidence demonstrating that relevant beneficiary information was transmitted to the auditors.

“The Office has retained email correspondence establishing that the 2023 National Beneficiary Register (NBR) beneficiary list was transmitted to the auditors on Friday, 18 April 2025 at 11:48 a.m,” it said.