The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has launched a blistering attack on the Bola Tinubu administration following an Auditor-General’s finding that N33.75 billion reportedly disbursed as cash transfers to 3.29 million households could not be matched to verified beneficiaries.
The party described the revelation as a disturbing indication that Nigeria’s social intervention programmes may have become vulnerable to systematic abuse, accusing government officials of turning funds meant for struggling Nigerians into what it called an “organised racket.”
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the latest finding could not simply be dismissed as an administrative error.
“Let us call this what it is,” Abdullahi said. “Not mismanagement. Not an oversight. It is an organised racket, which this government has run under the guise of a social intervention programme.”
According to the ADC, the latest revelation follows a series of controversies surrounding Nigeria’s social investment programmes since the Tinubu administration came to power.
The party recalled allegations surrounding the handling of N585 million reportedly transferred to a private account linked to former Humanitarian Affairs Minister Betta Edu, a controversy that led to her suspension.
It also cited the case involving former National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) chief Halima Shehu, alleging that N44 billion had gone missing under her watch.
The ADC said the emergence of another N33.75 billion in allegedly unverifiable transfers raises fresh questions about how billions of naira earmarked for vulnerable Nigerians are tracked, disbursed and accounted for.
The party further questioned the government's decision to announce a much larger social protection package despite what it described as unresolved accountability failures in previous programmes.
“Barely weeks before this audit blew up in their faces, they wheeled out a new $1 billion so-called ‘Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme’ with the usual State House fanfare,” Abdullahi said.
He argued that without stronger safeguards, the new programme risks repeating the problems associated with earlier interventions.
The ADC also linked the growing reliance on cash transfers to the wider economic hardship Nigerians have experienced following the removal of fuel subsidies and the devaluation of the naira.
According to the party, rising fuel, transport and food costs have pushed more Nigerians into economic distress, increasing dependence on government assistance.
“This is a government that manufactured hardship with one hand and pocketed the relief with the other,” the party said.
The ADC is now demanding a full investigation into the disputed transfers and greater transparency over the social intervention programme.
Among its demands are the immediate publication of the complete beneficiary register, the REMTA payment trail, and the identities of officials allegedly responsible for obstructing or frustrating the Auditor-General’s verification process.
The controversy places renewed scrutiny on one fundamental question: if billions of naira are being distributed in the name of Nigeria’s poorest citizens, where exactly is the money going—and who is receiving it?
The ADC says Nigerians deserve answers.
₦33.75bn Cash Transfer: ADC Accuses Tinubu Govt of ‘Racket’
