ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to set up an independent team of experts to investigate the disbursement of N33.75 billion reportedly paid to 3.29 million vulnerable households under the Federal Government’s cash transfer programme.
Vanguard reports that Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Saturday, said the planned probe followed concerns raised in an audit report over whether the funds actually reached their intended beneficiaries.
The former vice president described the audit findings as a serious indictment of the Bola Tinubu administration, accusing the government of withdrawing subsidy support, increasing taxes and tariffs and failing to account satisfactorily for funds meant to cushion the impact of its economic policies.
According to him, the N33.75 billion reportedly shared among 3.29 million households amounted to approximately N10,258 per household.
Atiku said the figure was inadequate considering the rising cost of transportation, electricity and food following the removal of fuel subsidy.
READ ALSO Nigeria Is Burning, Tinubu Chose Vacation – Atiku
He said it was even more troubling that the relatively small intervention had now come under scrutiny over its accountability.
“This is beyond a bookkeeping scandal. The intervention is insultingly small, yet even that small amount cannot be cleanly accounted for,” Atiku said.
He accused the government of failing to provide Nigerians with a consistent account of its cash transfer programme, noting that the administration had previously claimed that more than N600 billion had been disbursed to over 10 million households.
Atiku said the figure raised questions because Nigerians had earlier been told that about 15 million households were beneficiaries of the programme.
“It now appears that the Tinubu administration cannot give Nigerians a coherent account of how many households actually benefited from its intervention programme, while significant portions of the expenditure have failed to withstand independent audit scrutiny,” he said.
READ ALSO Atiku To Tinubu: Explain $460,000 US Forfeiture
The ADC presidential candidate commended the Auditor-General for the Federation, Shaakaa Chira, for raising questions over the payments, saying the office had demonstrated its constitutional responsibility by scrutinising government expenditure.
Atiku said the Auditor-General was reportedly questioning N33.75 billion allegedly paid to 3.29 million beneficiaries, alongside N36.74 billion in payments reportedly made without pre-payment audit and another N4.62 billion for which payment vouchers were allegedly not produced.
He said such concerns could not be dismissed as mere accounting discrepancies because the funds were appropriated in the name of vulnerable Nigerians affected by the rising cost of living.
Atiku said his proposed independent panel would examine available financial, audit and payment records to establish what happened to the funds.
“My team will constitute an independent group of financial, audit, technology and public-accounting experts to interrogate the available records surrounding these cash-transfer payments,” he said.
“We will follow the money as far as the available public and institutional records permit. We will examine the beneficiary figures, payment channels, reconciliation records, audit queries and every material inconsistency that has emerged.”
READ ALSO Nothing Must Happen to Obi, Atiku Warns Tinubu
He said the investigation would also examine whether payment platforms, including Remita, processed the transactions and whether verifiable evidence existed that beneficiaries received the funds.
Atiku argued that Nigerians deserved access to a transparent payment trail, insisting that any official found to have diverted, misapplied or misappropriated the funds should face prosecution.
“If investigation establishes that any official diverted, misapplied or misappropriated funds meant for vulnerable Nigerians, that official must face prosecution,” he said.
He maintained that the country needed economic policies capable of restoring purchasing power rather than repeated palliative interventions.
According to Atiku, his administration, if elected, would prioritise domestic refining, increase local energy supply and seek to reduce the cost of transportation and food.
“Our intervention will follow production. It will support domestic refining, increase local supply, reduce the cost of energy and ensure that the benefit reaches Nigerians through lower prices,” he said.