Provide details of ‘N600bn cash transfers to 15m Nigerians’ — Atiku challenges Tinubu
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and former Vice President of Nigeria, has expressed significant concerns regarding the government’s N600 billion cash transfer program. This initiative, implemented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, aims to support vulnerable households across the country.
In a statement released by his media team on Thursday, Abubakar raised questions about the actual beneficiaries of the program. He highlighted discrepancies in the figures provided by the government, recalling that on July 16 and August 2, the Presidency announced that the cash transfer program had reached 15 million households. However, on August 26, Bernard Doro, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, reported that only “slightly over 10 million households” had received assistance.
Abubakar pointed to these conflicting numbers as a source of concern, calling for the Tinubu administration to clarify the situation. “Where did five million households go? These are not opposition figures; they are discrepancies in the government’s own reports,” he stated.
He further scrutinized the financial aspects of the program, noting that if 10 million households received the full N75,000 payment, the total expenditure would amount to approximately N750 billion. For 15 million households, the cost would exceed N1.1 trillion, yet the government claims to have spent just over N600 billion.
Abubakar also questioned the validity of the data used in the program. “How many names were merely lifted from an existing social register and presented as evidence of actual payment? 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,” he added.
He urged the government to urgently provide detailed information regarding the households that benefited from the cash transfers.
