By Chibuzor Alli
The National Cash Transfer Office has rejected allegations that the Federal Government could not account for N33.75bn in electronic cash transfers, saying the funds were paid through the established system to beneficiaries captured in the National Beneficiary Register.
The NCTO said the Auditor-General for the Federation’s interpretation of the audit observations was materially incomplete and that documentary evidence was available to verify the payments and beneficiary records.
The office also denied obstructing auditors from accessing REMITA payment records, saying emails showed that beneficiary data and payment information had been transmitted to the audit team.
The Auditor-General’s findings, earlier reported by PUNCH on 5 September 2026, followed the publication of the 2024 Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The audit reviewed NCTO transactions for the 2023 financial year and raised eight queries involving billions of naira.
According to the audit report, N33.751bn was electronically transferred to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries across 35 states.
The auditors said, however, that payment vouchers did not contain full beneficiary details and that the REMITA statement needed to reconcile recipients with names on the National Social Register and National Beneficiary Register was not presented.
But the NCTO said the observation should not be interpreted as evidence that the N33.75bn was stolen, diverted or lost.
“An audit query or observation is not, by itself, a final determination that public funds were stolen, diverted, misappropriated or lost,” NCTO responded, adding that audit observations ordinarily require management responses, examination of supporting records and reconciliation before definitive conclusions can be reached.
NCTO says beneficiary records were electronic
The office said the transfers were made electronically to identified beneficiaries through the programme’s established payment architecture.
It explained that beneficiaries were not paid simply on the basis of names submitted for payment, but through records maintained in its information systems and subjected to identification, validation and authorisation controls.
The NCTO added that the electronic nature of the programme meant millions of beneficiary records were maintained digitally and did not have to be physically printed and attached to individual payment vouchers where an electronic audit trail existed.
“Beneficiary records underlying the transfers are maintained electronically and can be subjected to data-level reconciliation against the corresponding electronic payment records,” the office said.
The NCTO further said it had evidence showing that the National Beneficiary Register was transmitted to the audit team.
It said the 2023 NBR beneficiary list was sent by email on 18 April 2025 at 11:48am, while the 2024 and 2025 NBR records were transmitted on 21 April 2026 at 6:25pm.
The office said the emails contained identifiable dates and times that could be independently verified, rejecting any suggestion that it deliberately withheld beneficiary records from auditors.
It also disputed the allegation that its accounts officials obstructed access to the REMITA statement.
According to the NCTO, the project accountant retained email correspondence showing that the relevant REMITA payment report had been shared with the audit team.
“The existence of contemporaneous email evidence showing transmission of the REMITA report provides an objective documentary basis for establishing whether the payment information was made available during the audit process,” NCTO added.
NCTO challenges other audit queries
The cash transfer office also responded to a query concerning 101 payments totalling N4.62bn from the S&S/IDA Cash Book.
The audit said the corresponding paid vouchers were not presented for examination and recommended that the money be accounted for or recovered and remitted to the Treasury.
NCTO said it maintained paid vouchers and supporting expenditure records but argued that the audit observation aggregated the 101 transactions without providing enough transaction-level details to identify the allegedly missing vouchers.
It requested a schedule containing the individual payments, voucher numbers, dates, payees, descriptions and amounts to allow the transactions to be reconciled with the relevant supporting documents.
The office also rejected the characterisation of N350.18m released to states for beneficiary enrolment as unaccounted funds.
The Auditor-General had reported that N3.09bn was released to states for the enrolment of unbanked beneficiaries, with supporting documents covering N2.74bn, leaving N350.18m without adequate documentation.
NCTO said it was resubmitting relevant evidence, including beneficiary lists, photographs, attendance registers, enrolment reports and acknowledgements, and remained available for transaction-by-transaction reconciliation.
The office also disputed a query over N36.74bn in payments that the audit said were made without prepayment checks.
The Auditor-General reportedly found that 215 vouchers totalling N36.74bn were paid in December 2023 without internal audit or prepayment checks, while the Internal Audit Unit carried out post-payment checks.
NCTO said the applicable World Bank Project Appraisal Document provided for an internal audit arrangement that did not adopt the conventional prepayment audit system.
It said the document required the Internal Audit Unit to undertake traditional compliance and non-financial/operational audits “without adopting the prepayment audit system”.
The office therefore argued that post-payment auditing under the approved project framework should not, without the necessary context, be presented as evidence that the N36.74bn was improperly paid.
Cash transfer office disputes procurement queries
NCTO also responded to the Auditor-General’s query concerning N89.51m in store and procurement transactions, saying the amount comprised multiple transactions and should not be treated as a single homogeneous expenditure.
It disputed the suggestion that N280.421m advanced to Payment Service Providers remained outstanding.
According to the office, the advances were made against insurance bonds associated with the contracts.
It said the World Bank subsequently reviewed the procurement and underlying activity before the contracts were cancelled because of compliance concerns and because the activity was no longer required following the restructuring of the project.
The office said the advances were subsequently recovered from the payment service providers and that REMITA and reference documents evidencing the refunds were available.
It maintained that questions over the original procurement process should be separated from whether the money ultimately constituted a financial loss to the government.
The NCTO further said N393.71m was returned by nine state cash transfer units that could not conduct planned activities because of insecurity, disasters and other operational constraints.
It said REMITA documentation showed that the refunds had been provided for verification, contrary to claims that evidence of the funds being credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund was not provided.
The office also addressed a N17.422m procurement observation relating to diesel, saying the supply was undertaken through a company or service provider and that relevant vouchers and supporting documents were available and had been presented or provided for examination.
NCTO urges caution over audit observations
The cash transfer office said it welcomed scrutiny of its activities but urged caution in interpreting audit observations.
It argued that “a request for additional documents does not, by itself, establish that money is missing; that electronically maintained beneficiary records should not be treated as nonexistent merely because they were not printed; and that a recovered advance should not be presented as an outstanding financial loss”.
NCTO said refunds supported by electronic payment evidence should first be reconciled before the underlying amounts were described as unaccounted for.
The office said it remained committed to transparency and would continue to cooperate with the Auditor-General and other oversight institutions.
It also urged the media and public to distinguish between audit observations requiring management responses and reconciliation and established findings of fraud, diversion, misappropriation or loss of public funds.
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