Atiku asks FG to explain N600bn cash transfers, flags contradiction in number of beneficiary households

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says the federal government should account for more than N600 billion said to have been disbursed to vulnerable Nigerians through its cash transfer programme.

In a statement issued by Phrank Shaibu, his media aide, Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), also questioned the discrepancy between the government’s current claim that slightly more than 10 million households benefited from the programme and an earlier figure of 15 million households announced by the presidency.

On July 16, President Bola Tinubu announced that Nigeria’s expanded cash transfer programme had reached 15 million vulnerable households, lifting an estimated 7.5 million citizens out of poverty.

Bernard Doro, minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty reduction, on Wednesday said the government had disbursed more than N600 billion in cash transfers to slightly over 10 million households since Tinubu assumed office.

Doro, who spoke on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme, said the beneficiaries could represent about 40 million people based on an average household size of four.

“We have done over N600 billion in cash transfers to be able to support vulnerable Nigerians within three years,” Doro said.

‘WHERE DID THE FIVE MILLION HOUSEHOLDS GO?’

However, Atiku said the figures provided by the government are contradictory and raise questions about the programme.

“On 16 July 2026, the Presidency officially declared that expanded cash transfers had reached 15 million vulnerable households,” the statement reads.

“It repeated essentially the same figure on 2 August 2026. Yet on 26 August 2026, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs suddenly told Nigerians that only ‘slightly over 10 million households’ had been reached.

“So where did five million households go? These are not opposition figures. They are Tinubu’s figures contradicting Tinubu’s figures.”

Atiku also questioned the arithmetic behind the N600 billion expenditure.

He said the government had stated that qualifying households would receive N25,000 monthly for three months, amounting to N75,000 per household.

“If 10 million households received the full payment, that would be about N750 billion. If 15 million households did, it would exceed N1.1 trillion. Yet government says it spent just over N600 billion,” he said.

He asked the government to clarify how many beneficiaries received one, two or all three tranches, as well as how many transactions failed or were reversed.

“A name on a social register is not a bank alert. Counting people in a database is not the same thing as proving money reached them,” Atiku said.

ATIKU DEMANDS PAYMENT TRAIL

The former vice-president called on the government to provide verifiable records of the cash-transfer disbursements.

“If N600 billion truly moved, then government must show the trail: unique verified households, payment tranches, state-by-state distribution, failed transactions, reversals and an independent audit,” he said.

Atiku also criticised the government’s broader approach to poverty reduction, arguing that economic policies should reduce the cost pressures pushing Nigerians into poverty rather than simply provide cash after households become vulnerable.

He said his proposed targeted intervention in the domestic petroleum value chain is designed to reduce fuel and transportation costs at source.

“When petrol becomes cheaper, the bus driver spends less, the farmer moves produce more cheaply, the trader pays less for haulage, businesses face lower logistics costs and the savings travel through the economy to the family kitchen,” he said.(TheCable)