N750bn Cash Transfer: Atiku Demands Records of Payments to 10m Nigerians
By Akin Alade
The Federal Government’s conditional cash-transfer programme has come under fresh scrutiny after former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenged the administration to provide verifiable records of payments reportedly made to more than 10 million vulnerable Nigerians.
Atiku raised the issue in his Independence Day address on Thursday, October 1, 2026, after APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, said more than 10 million Nigerians had received ₦75,000 each through the Federal Government’s conditional cash-transfer programme. At that figure, the claimed disbursement would amount to at least ₦750 billion.
The central issue raised by Atiku is not simply the size of the intervention but how beneficiaries were identified, reached and paid, particularly after Yilwatda said many of those who benefited were poor Nigerians without mobile phones, television sets or access to social media.
Atiku questioned how such beneficiaries were contacted and paid in difficult-to-reach communities, specifically citing parts of Borno and Yobe affected by insecurity. He asked whether the money was delivered physically or transferred through financial institutions and called for documentation capable of establishing the payment trail.
The former vice president said the government should be able to demonstrate how the programme operated without exposing the personal information of beneficiaries. His demand centres on what he described as the need for an auditable account of public expenditure.
The controversy follows Yilwatda’s September 26 disclosure in Maiduguri, where he defended the Tinubu administration’s social intervention programmes and said more than 10 million Nigerians had received ₦75,000 through the conditional cash-transfer scheme under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction.
The figures have also generated questions because another government statement cited by Leadership reported that Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction Minister Bernard Doro said in August that more than ₦600 billion had been disbursed through cash transfers over three years, reaching slightly more than 10 million households. The difference in the figures and descriptions underscores the importance of clarifying the programme’s scope, beneficiaries and payment records.
Atiku’s challenge comes against the backdrop of a wider political disagreement over the state of Nigeria’s economy. While President Bola Tinubu used his 66th Independence Day address to argue that economic reforms had moved the country towards a period of shared prosperity, Atiku criticised the administration’s economic record and questioned whether improvements in official economic indicators were translating into better living conditions for households.
The cash-transfer controversy therefore places public accountability and social-welfare spending at the centre of the latest political exchange between the opposition and the Federal Government. Beyond the competing political narratives, the key issue for the public is whether the government can clearly document the number of beneficiaries, amounts paid, payment channels and safeguards used to prevent duplication or diversion.
With the 2027 general election approaching, social intervention programmes are likely to remain an important part of the political debate. For now, Atiku’s demand has shifted attention from the announcement of the cash transfers to the question of how the reported ₦750 billion was actually distributed and whether the government can provide a transparent, verifiable account of the payments.
