N78.8bn Audit Queries: Tinubu Govt Dragged To ECOWAS Court

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Federal Government earlier than the ECOWAS Court of Justice over alleged monetary irregularities involving N78.8bn allotted to federal cash-transfer and social-protection programmes.

The go well with follows findings within the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2024 Annual Report, revealed on August 7, 2026, which recognized questionable expenditures and gaps in monetary data involving the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) and the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO).

In go well with quantity ECW/CCJ/APP/42/26, filed final week, SERAP is asking the court docket to declare that the federal government’s failure to account for the funds violates Nigeria’s worldwide human rights obligations.

The organisation can be in search of an order compelling the federal government to supply a complete account of the questioned funds, examine the alleged irregularities, get well any cash discovered to have been improperly spent or diverted, and take acceptable motion in opposition to these accountable.

According to SERAP, the funds have been supposed to help greater than 3.2 million households throughout 35 states, elevating issues in regards to the potential influence of the alleged monetary irregularities on susceptible Nigerians.

The Auditor-General reportedly questioned roughly N33.751bn mentioned to have been transferred to the households in 2023, citing the failure of the related authorities to supply satisfactory data to confirm funds and reconcile beneficiary data.

The report additionally recognized N36.744bn in funds allegedly made with out prepayment audits and N4.616bn in unsupported expenditures.

Other questioned funds included N350.182m for enrolment, N89.511m for retailer purchases and N17.422m in diesel advances.

SERAP argued that the failure to account for the funds and examine the findings might undermine the rights of affected Nigerians to social safety and an satisfactory lifestyle, together with entry to meals, clothes and housing.

The organisation mentioned cash-transfer programmes have been designed to assist individuals experiencing excessive poverty meet their fundamental wants, including that the federal government had an obligation to make sure that public funds allotted for social safety have been correctly managed and reached their supposed beneficiaries.

SERAP mentioned it had beforehand written to President Bola Tinubu and related authorities on September 5, urging them to account for the questioned funds, publish audit data, examine the alleged irregularities and get well any cash discovered to have been unlawfully spent.

It additionally requested cost and beneficiary data, verification paperwork and an evidence for lacking REMITA data.

However, the organisation mentioned the deadline it gave the federal government to handle the Auditor-General’s findings had expired with out satisfactory motion, prompting the authorized problem.

SERAP is asking the court docket to direct the federal government and related businesses to conduct an impartial, immediate and efficient investigation into the recognized irregularities and strengthen monetary accountability, beneficiary verification, auditing and oversight mechanisms.

It can be in search of an order requiring the federal government to make sure that eligible susceptible people and households obtain the advantages supposed for them and that any established opposed results on their rights are remedied.

The organisation maintained that the allegations raised within the Auditor-General’s report shouldn’t be handled merely as administrative irregularities the place public funds supposed for social safety could have been misplaced, improperly spent or left unaccounted for.

The go well with was filed on behalf of SERAP by its attorneys, Kolawole Oluwadare and Kehinde Oyewumi, underneath Article 9(4) of the ECOWAS Court Protocol.

No date has been fastened for the listening to of the case.