The National Cash Transfer Office has pushed back against claims contained in a report by the Auditor-General for the Federation, which alleged that the Federal Government was unable to furnish sufficient proof that N33.75bn disbursed through electronic cash transfers actually got to genuine beneficiaries.

In a statement released to The PUNCH on Wednesday, the NCTO management dismissed the reading of the audit findings as materially incomplete. It maintained that the funds in question moved through the programme’s recognised payment structure to beneficiaries whose details are contained in the National Beneficiary Register.

The agency also denied claims that its personnel blocked auditors from gaining access to REMITA payment records. It said documentary proof, including emails confirming the transmission of beneficiary information and payment data, remained available for anyone wishing to verify the matter independently.

The Auditor-General’s observations had first been reported on September 5, 2026, following release of the 2024 Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

Per the report, the audit covered the National Cash Transfer Office’s transactions for the 2023 financial year and turned up eight separate queries involving sums running into billions of naira.

Auditors stated that N33.751bn had reportedly been sent electronically to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries spread across 35 states. They added, however, that the payment vouchers lacked complete beneficiary information, and that the REMITA statement needed to match recipients against the National Social Register and National Beneficiary Register was never produced.

In its comprehensive response, the NCTO said the audit observation should not be taken to mean that the N33.75bn had been stolen, diverted or lost. It stressed that a query demanding clarification or supporting paperwork is not the same thing as a conclusive finding of fraud or financial loss.

“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.

Responding directly to the central accusation, the NCTO said transfers were made electronically to beneficiaries whose identities had been established under the scheme’s approved payment framework.

It clarified that payments were not simply issued based on submitted names, but were channelled through beneficiary records held within the programme’s information systems, which are subject to identification, validation and authorisation checks.

The office argued that because the scheme operates electronically, millions of beneficiary records exist in digital form and need not be printed out and physically attached to each payment voucher, given that the underlying electronic audit trail already exists.

“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.

Notably, the NCTO said it possesses documentary proof confirming that the National Beneficiary Register was sent to the audit team.

According to the agency, the 2023 NBR beneficiary list was transmitted to auditors by email on April 18, 2025, at 11:48 am, while records for 2024 and 2025 were sent on April 21, 2026, at 6:25 pm.

It said the emails carry identifiable timestamps that can be verified independently, and on that basis rejected any suggestion that beneficiary records were deliberately withheld from the auditors.

The NCTO further challenged the specific claim that accounts officials obstructed access to the REMITA statement, stating that its project accountant has preserved email correspondence proving the relevant REMITA payment report was shared with the audit team.

It said this correspondence would be made available alongside its formal clarification to allow independent verification. “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.

The agency therefore argued that the allegation of deliberate obstruction does not square with the documentary correspondence in its possession.

It insisted that the absence of millions of physically printed beneficiary records attached to individual vouchers cannot reasonably be taken as proof that such records do not exist.

The office also addressed the Auditor-General’s query over 101 payments totalling N4.62bn drawn from the S&S/IDA Cash Book, for which the audit said corresponding paid vouchers were not produced for review, recommending that the funds be accounted for or recovered and remitted to the Treasury.

NCTO responded that it does keep paid vouchers and supporting records for its expenditures, and noted that the audit observation lumped 101 transactions together into the N4.62bn figure without supplying enough transaction-level detail to let its management identify which specific vouchers were allegedly missing.

The office has asked for a schedule listing the individual payments, voucher numbers, dates, payees, descriptions and amounts, saying this would allow each transaction to be matched against its corresponding voucher and supporting paperwork.

NCTO also rejected the framing of N350.18m released to states for beneficiary enrolment as unaccounted funds. The Auditor-General had reported that out of N3.09bn released to states for enrolling unbanked beneficiaries, supporting documents covering N2.74bn were produced, leaving N350.18m without adequate documentation.

The audit also flagged missing beneficiary lists, photographs, attendance registers, enrolment reports and acknowledgements. NCTO said it was resubmitting the relevant evidence and remained open to transaction-by-transaction reconciliation.

It further disputed the characterisation of N36.74bn in payments as improper on the grounds that they bypassed a prepayment audit. The Auditor-General had reportedly found that 215 vouchers worth N36.74bn were paid in December 2023 without internal audit or prepayment checks, with the Internal Audit Unit instead conducting post-payment checks.

NCTO said the applicable World Bank Project Appraisal Document specifically provided for an internal audit arrangement that did not follow the conventional prepayment audit model.

According to the office, the document required the Internal Audit Unit to carry out traditional compliance and non-financial/operational audits “without adopting the prepayment audit system”.

It argued that applying a post-payment audit approach under the approved project framework should not, absent proper context, be presented as evidence that the N36.74bn was improperly disbursed.

On the N89.51m store and procurement transactions queried by the Auditor-General, NCTO said the figure represents multiple separate transactions and should not be treated as one uniform expenditure.

The NCTO also rejected any suggestion that the N280.421m advanced to Payment Service Providers remains outstanding, stating that the advances were made against insurance bonds tied to the contracts.

It said the World Bank later reviewed the procurement and the underlying activity, after which the contracts were cancelled over compliance concerns and because the activity was no longer needed following the project’s restructuring.

The office said the advances were subsequently recovered from the payment service providers, and that REMITA/reference documents proving the refunds exist.

It maintained that questions about the original procurement process should be treated separately from the question of whether the money ultimately amounted to a financial loss for government.

The office added that N393.71m was returned by nine state cash transfer units unable to carry out planned activities due to insecurity, disasters and other operational constraints, resulting in refunds of unused funds.

Contrary to claims that NCTO failed to show that the funds were credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, NCTO said REMITA documentation showing the refunds has been made available for verification.

The office also addressed the N17.422m procurement query relating to diesel, saying the diesel supply was handled through a company or service provider and that the relevant vouchers and supporting documents exist and had been presented or made available for examination.

The cash transfer office said it welcomes scrutiny of its operations but cautioned against misreading 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”.

It further maintained that refunds backed by electronic payment evidence should be reconciled first before the underlying amounts are labelled unaccounted for. The office stressed its continued commitment to transparency and said it would keep cooperating with the Auditor-General and other oversight bodies.

It urged the media and the public to distinguish between audit observations that call for management response and reconciliation, and established findings of fraud, diversion, misappropriation or loss of public funds.