Fresh controversy is trailing the Federal Government’s claim that it has disbursed ₦330 billion in cash transfers to millions of poor Nigerians.
The Yoruba Union on Sunday accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of mismanaging the palliative scheme, alleging that the programme was skewed to favour ruling APC members while worsening poverty and inequality.
The group warned that the secrecy around the funds, coupled with rising hardship from fuel subsidy removal, has fuelled school dropouts, unemployment, and social vices. It urged Nigerians to resist fresh foreign loans being tied to unverifiable cash disbursement claims.
Backing the demand for transparency, human rights lawyer, Festus Ogun, has written to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, invoking the Freedom of Information Act to compel disclosure of the full list of beneficiaries.
Ogun insisted Nigerians deserve details of names, disbursement dates, amounts received, and states of residence of the alleged 8.5 million households said to have benefited.
Recall that on September 17, Finance Minister Wale Edun, had announced that the funds—drawn from an $800 million World Bank facility—were paid digitally via bank accounts and mobile wallets to households captured in the National Social Register. According to him, 8.5 million households had received at least one tranche of ₦25,000, while another seven million households are awaiting payment.
But Ogun dismissed the government’s explanation as “shrouded in secrecy,” warning that if the ministry fails to provide the information within the seven-day statutory window, he will take legal action.
“Corruption thrives in darkness”, Ogun declared, echoing the Yoruba Union’s warning that without full accountability, the scheme risks plunging the country into deeper economic and social instability.
