NCTO defends N33.75bn cash transfers, saying beneficiary records and payment information were submitted to auditors for verification and independent reconciliation.
The National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) has rejected suggestions that an audit query concerning N33.75 billion in cash transfers indicates fraud, misuse or diversion of public funds.
The Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) had raised concerns about the payments, saying there was insufficient evidence to establish that N33.75 billion transferred to 3.29 million vulnerable households in 2023 reached genuine beneficiaries.
The observation was contained in the OAuGF’s 2024 annual report on non-compliance and internal control weaknesses in federal ministries, departments and agencies.
In a statement issued on Thursday, NCTO said an audit query or observation does not, by itself, establish that public funds were stolen, diverted, misused or lost.
The office said it respects the constitutional responsibilities of the auditor-general but considered it necessary to clarify the circumstances surrounding the electronic cash transfers.
According to NCTO, the payments were processed electronically through the programme’s established payment system and made to beneficiaries who had been identified and verified as eligible.
It said the system has multiple controls covering beneficiary identification, validation, authorisation and disbursement.
NCTO explained that beneficiaries are not paid solely because their names appear on a payment list. Rather, payments are processed against beneficiary records maintained in the programme’s information systems and subjected to several verification stages.
The office said the system was designed to prevent payments outside the approved beneficiary population.
It therefore disputed any suggestion that the N33.75 billion was paid to people whose identities could not be established or verified.
NCTO also said beneficiary records are maintained electronically and can be reconciled with corresponding electronic payment records.
The office argued that, given the nationwide scale of the programme and the millions of records involved, electronic storage and transmission of beneficiary information is necessary and practical.
It said the absence of printed beneficiary records physically attached to individual payment vouchers does not mean the information was unavailable.
According to NCTO, it has documentary evidence showing that beneficiary information requested during the audit was transmitted to the audit team.
The office said email correspondence shows that the 2023 National Beneficiary Register was sent to the auditors on April 18, 2025, at 11:48 a.m.
It added that the 2024 and 2025 National Beneficiary Register records were transmitted to the audit team on April 21, 2026, at 6:25 p.m.
NCTO said copies of the email correspondence would accompany its clarification to the audit query as evidence that the requested beneficiary records were provided.
The office added that the electronic records contain identifiable dates and times of transmission, which can be independently verified.
NCTO consequently rejected any suggestion that it deliberately withheld beneficiary information required to establish the identities of recipients.
The cash transfer office also disputed the auditor’s observation concerning the REMITA payment statement.
It said the project accountant retained email evidence showing that the relevant REMITA payment report had been forwarded to the audit team.
According to NCTO, the correspondence provides a documentary trail for establishing whether the payment information was made available during the audit exercise.
The office maintained that the electronic beneficiary records and REMITA payment information remain available for independent examination and reconciliation.
NCTO said the available documentation demonstrates that the records required to verify the cash transfers were provided to the auditors.
It maintained that the audit observation should not be interpreted as evidence that the N33.75 billion was paid to unidentified beneficiaries or that supporting records were deliberately concealed.