The National Cash Transfer Office has rejected allegations arising from a report by the Auditor-General for the Federation that the Federal Government could not provide sufficient evidence that N33.75bn in electronic cash transfers reached genuine beneficiaries.

The Office described the interpretation of the audit observations as materially incomplete, insisting that the questioned funds were transferred through the established payment architecture to beneficiaries captured in the National Beneficiary Register.

The NCTO also disputed the allegation that its officials obstructed auditors from accessing REMITA payment records, saying documentary evidence, including emails showing the transmission of beneficiary data and payment information, was available for independent verification.

According to the Auditor-General's report, the audit reviewed NCTO transactions for the 2023 financial year and identified eight audit queries involving billions of naira.

The most prominent concerned N33.751bn electronically transferred to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries across 35 states.

The auditors said payment vouchers did not contain full beneficiary details and that the REMITA statement required to reconcile recipients with names on the National Social Register and National Beneficiary Register was not presented.

But the NCTO said the audit observation should not be interpreted as a finding that N33.75bn was stolen, diverted or lost.

It stressed that an audit query or observation is not, by itself, a final determination that public funds were stolen, diverted, misappropriated or lost, adding that observations ordinarily require management responses, examination of supporting records and reconciliation before definitive conclusions can be reached.

Addressing the central allegation, the Office said the cash transfers were made electronically to identified beneficiaries under the programme's established payment architecture.

It explained that beneficiaries were not paid simply on the basis of names submitted for payment, but through beneficiary records maintained in the programme's information systems and subjected to identification, validation and authorisation controls.

The NCTO said millions of beneficiary records were maintained digitally and therefore did not have to be physically printed and attached to individual payment vouchers where the underlying electronic audit trail was available.

It said the records could be subjected to data-level reconciliation against corresponding electronic payment records.

More significantly, the Office said it had documentary evidence showing that the National Beneficiary Register was transmitted to the audit team.

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

According to the Office, the emails contained identifiable dates and times and could be independently verified.

The NCTO therefore rejected any suggestion that it deliberately withheld beneficiary records.

It also challenged the allegation that its accounts officials obstructed access to the REMITA statement, saying the Project Accountant had retained email correspondence demonstrating that the relevant REMITA payment report was shared with the audit team and that the correspondence would be made available for independent verification.

The Office also responded to the Auditor-General's query concerning 101 payments totalling N4.616bn from the S&S/IDA Cash Book.

While the audit said corresponding paid vouchers were not presented for examination and recommended that the money be accounted for or recovered and remitted to the Treasury, NCTO said it maintained paid vouchers and supporting records.

However, it requested a transaction-level schedule containing payment details, voucher numbers, dates, payees, descriptions and amounts to enable reconciliation.

On the N350.182m released to states for beneficiary enrolment, the Auditor-General had reported that of N3.09bn released for enrolment of unbanked beneficiaries, supporting documents covering N2.74bn were made available, leaving N350.18m without adequate documentation.

The audit cited missing beneficiary lists, photographs, attendance registers, enrolment reports and acknowledgements, but NCTO said the funds were released for approved enrolment activities and that relevant implementation and financial records were available.

The Office explained that programme implementation records and financial records could be maintained separately and that the absence of an activity document physically attached to a payment voucher should not automatically mean the expenditure was unaccounted for.

It said it was resubmitting relevant evidence and remained available for transaction-by-transaction reconciliation.

NCTO also disputed the characterization of N36.744bn in payments as improperly made because they were not subjected to prepayment audit.

The Auditor-General reportedly found that 215 vouchers amounting to N36.744bn were paid in December 2023 without internal audit or prepayment checks, with the Internal Audit Unit instead conducting post-payment checks.

The Office said the applicable World Bank Project Appraisal Document expressly provided for an internal audit arrangement that did not adopt the conventional prepayment audit system.

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

It therefore argued that post-payment auditing under the approved project framework should not, without the necessary context, be presented as evidence of improper payment.

It added that its Internal Auditor participated in beneficiary cash-transfer verification as part of the programme's internal controls.

On the N89.511m store and procurement transactions, NCTO said the amount comprised multiple transactions and should not be treated as one homogeneous expenditure.

The audit reportedly found that store items purchased by the Office were not entered in the store ledger and that Store Receipt Vouchers and Store Issue Vouchers were not attached to the transactions.

NCTO said some transactions had earlier been identified during a World Bank audit as having been incorrectly made, but appropriate recovery action was subsequently taken and affected funds refunded, while other transactions represented legitimate purchases supported by payment vouchers and other documentation.

The Office also disputed any suggestion that N280.421m advanced to Payment Service Providers remained outstanding.

The Auditor-General had questioned the payment, including procurement and guarantee-related issues, and recommended recovery.

NCTO said the advances were made against insurance bonds associated with the contracts and that the World Bank subsequently reviewed the procurement and underlying activity before the contracts were cancelled because of compliance concerns and because the activity was no longer required following project restructuring.

It said the advances were subsequently recovered from the Payment Service Providers, with REMITA/reference documents evidencing the refunds available.

The NCTO further addressed about N393.71m returned by nine State Cash Transfer Units after planned enrolment activities could not be conducted because of insecurity, disasters and other operational constraints.

The Auditor-General had questioned whether the refunds were credited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund, but NCTO said REMITA documentation showing the refunds had been provided for verification.

It also pointed to an apparent numerical discrepancy in the audit observation, noting that the heading gives N393,714,161, while another portion states N383,714,161 in figures but spells out N393,714,161 in words.

On the N17.422m diesel procurement observation, the audit reportedly found that diesel purchases were made through cash advances to staff rather than through the applicable procurement process and raised concerns about possible tax losses.

NCTO said the diesel supply was undertaken through a company or service provider and that relevant vouchers and supporting documents were available and had been presented or provided for examination.

It requested that the individual transactions be identified and reconciled against procurement and payment records before conclusions were drawn concerning the entire amount.

The Office said it welcomed scrutiny of its activities but urged caution in interpreting audit observations.

It maintained that a request for additional documents does not, by itself, establish that money is missing; electronically maintained beneficiary records should not be treated as nonexistent merely because they were not printed; and a recovered advance should not be presented as an outstanding financial loss.

NCTO said it possessed documentary records, including email correspondence showing exchanges with the audit team and transmission of beneficiary and payment information.