N33.75bn cash transfer: Tinubu govt turned relief into racket — ADC

Nigeria’s African Democratic Congress has accused the Tinubu administration of turning relief for poor households into an “organised racket” after an Auditor-General’s report found that N33.75 billion in cash transfers could not be matched to verified beneficiaries.

The transfers reportedly involved 3.29 million households. The ADC said the finding raised serious questions because the government had announced a new $1 billion Renewed Hope Social Protection Programme despite unresolved concerns over earlier interventions.

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Let us call this what it is. Not mismanagement. Not an oversight. It is an organised racket, which this government has run under the guise of a social intervention programme. They are stealing from the poor and telling them to continue to endure hardship.

In a statement, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, tied the latest finding to previous controversies surrounding the National Social Investment Programme. “They are stealing from the poor and telling them to continue to endure hardship,” Abdullahi said.

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Given the familiar history, we are in no doubt that even in the unlikely event that this latest intervention is ever implemented, it would end up like the others before it: another racket.

The party recalled reports that N585 million had been sent to a private account under former Humanitarian Affairs Minister Betta Edu. It also cited allegations that N44 billion went missing from the National Social Investment Programme Agency under Halima Shehu. Edu, who was suspended during the controversy, has since returned to Tinubu’s campaign council, the ADC said.

The party questioned whether the new programme had adequate safeguards against similar failures. It demanded a full investigation, including publication of the beneficiary register, the REMITA payment trail and the names of officials who allegedly obstructed the Auditor-General. The ADC also blamed fuel-subsidy removal and naira devaluation for worsening poverty and increasing dependence on government assistance.

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This is a government that manufactured hardship with one hand and pocketed the relief with the other. Fuel prices up. Transport costs up. Food prices up. And the one programme meant to soften the blow turns out to be a black hole. Enough is enough.