Where Did Five Million Households Go? – Atiku Questions FG’s ₦600bn Cash Transfer

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has asked the Federal Government to explain how more than ₦600 billion was spent under its cash transfer programme.

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) also questioned conflicting figures released by government officials on the number of households that benefited.

Naija News reports that Atiku raised the concerns in a statement issued by his media aide, Phrank Shaibu.

The former vice president said the government needed to provide clear records showing how the money allocated for the programme was distributed to vulnerable Nigerians.

Atiku said : “On 16 July 2026, the Presidency officially declared that expanded cash transfers had reached 15 million vulnerable households. It repeated essentially the same figure on 2 August 2026. Yet on 26 August 2026, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs suddenly told Nigerians that only ‘slightly over 10 million households’ had been reached.

“So where did five million households go? These are not opposition figures. They are Tinubu’s figures contradicting Tinubu’s figures.

“If 10 million households received the full payment, that would be about N750 billion. If 15 million households did, it would exceed N1.1 trillion. Yet government says it spent just over N600 billion.

“A name on a social register is not a bank alert. Counting people in a database is not the same thing as proving money reached them.

“If N600 billion truly moved, then government must show the trail: unique verified households, payment tranches, state-by-state distribution, failed transactions, reversals and an independent audit.

“When petrol becomes cheaper, the bus driver spends less, the farmer moves produce more cheaply, the trader pays less for haulage, businesses face lower logistics costs and the savings travel through the economy to the family kitchen.”

His reaction followed comments by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, who disclosed that the Federal Government had spent more than ₦600 billion on cash transfers since President Bola Tinubu assumed office.