Ayomide Awe
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Federal Government before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice over alleged financial irregularities involving N78.8bn allocated to cash-transfer and social-protection programmes for vulnerable Nigerians.
The organisation is asking the regional court to compel the government to account for the funds, investigate the alleged irregularities, recover any money found to have been improperly spent or diverted, and strengthen oversight of social-protection programmes.
The suit follows findings contained in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2024 Annual Report, published on August 7, 2026, which reportedly identified questionable transactions and inadequate financial records relating to programmes administered by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the National Cash Transfer Office and the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office.
In a statement issued on Sunday by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said the allegations raised serious concerns about the management of public funds intended to support millions of vulnerable households.
The suit, marked ECW/CCJ/APP/42/26, was filed last week by the organisation’s lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare and Kehinde Oyewumi.
SERAP is seeking a declaration that the government’s alleged failure to account for the funds and adequately investigate the audit findings violates Nigeria’s obligations under international human rights law.
According to the organisation, the questioned expenditure included approximately N33.751bn reportedly transferred to more than 3.2 million households across 35 states in 2023, for which adequate records to verify payments and reconcile beneficiary information were allegedly not provided.
The audit report also reportedly identified N36.744bn in payments made without prepayment audits, N4.616bn in unsupported expenditure, N350.182m for enrolment, N89.511m for store purchases and N17.422m in diesel advances.
The allegations cover various periods between January 2023 and December 31, 2024.
SERAP argued that the absence of adequate documentation and effective oversight could undermine the objectives of social-protection programmes designed to help vulnerable Nigerians meet their basic needs.
“The funds were intended to benefit over 3.2 million households across 35 states, whose access to financial assistance has been affected by the allegations made by the Auditor-General,” the organisation stated.
It maintained that cash-transfer programmes could help reduce extreme poverty and enable disadvantaged households to afford food, clothing and housing, but said the government had a responsibility to ensure that public money allocated for such purposes reached the intended beneficiaries.
SERAP argued that the right to social security could not be guaranteed merely by establishing a cash-transfer scheme without adequate mechanisms for identifying beneficiaries, maintaining records, reconciling disbursements, monitoring expenditure and investigating suspected financial misconduct.
“The failure to investigate the N78.8 billion cash-transfer scandal, account for the questioned funds and recover any unlawfully spent amounts violates Nigeria’s obligations to protect the human rights of vulnerable households,” the suit partly read.
The organisation said it instituted the case in the public interest to protect affected households and ensure accountability for funds meant to provide relief to people facing economic hardship.
It also argued that the government’s alleged failure to take appropriate corrective action after the audit findings could amount to a breach of its responsibility to protect vulnerable citizens from the consequences of financial mismanagement.
To address the concerns, SERAP is asking the court to order an independent, prompt and effective investigation into the identified irregularities and the recovery of any public funds established to have been lost, diverted or improperly spent.
It is also seeking appropriate legal or administrative action against any individuals found responsible, subject to due process.
Beyond the investigation, the organisation wants the government to strengthen financial controls, beneficiary verification, auditing, reconciliation and monitoring systems to prevent similar irregularities in future cash-transfer and social-protection programmes.
