The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Federal Government before the ECOWAS Court of Justice over alleged financial irregularities involving ₦78.8bn allocated to federal cash transfer and social protection programmes.
The organisation is seeking an order compelling the government to account for the funds, investigate the alleged irregularities, recover any money found to have been improperly spent and take appropriate action against those responsible.
The suit, marked ECW/CCJ/APP/42/26 and filed in Abuja last week, follows findings contained in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2024 Annual Report, published on August 7, 2026.
According to SERAP, the report identified questioned transactions involving the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the National Cash Transfer Office and the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office between January 2023 and December 2024.
The organisation said the alleged irregularities affected funds intended to support more than 3.2 million households across 35 states.
SERAP is asking the court to declare that the government’s failure to investigate and address the findings, where they impair or threaten beneficiaries’ access to assistance, violates Nigeria’s international human rights obligations.
It also wants an order directing the relevant agencies to provide comprehensive records of payments, beneficiaries, verification procedures and financial reconciliations.
The group said the Auditor-General questioned approximately ₦33.751bn reportedly transferred to more than 3.2 million households in 2023, citing inadequate documentation to verify payments and reconcile beneficiary records.
The report also identified ₦36.744bn in payments allegedly made without prepayment audits and ₦4.616bn in unsupported expenditure.
Other questioned transactions included ₦350.182m for enrolment, ₦89.511m for store purchases and ₦17.422m in diesel advances.
SERAP argued that the allegations raised concerns about whether public funds intended to alleviate poverty had been properly managed and reached their intended beneficiaries.
In the suit filed by its lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare and Kehinde Oyewumi, the organisation maintained that the government had a duty to safeguard public resources allocated to social protection and ensure that vulnerable households received the assistance meant for them.
It argued that establishing a cash transfer programme was insufficient to fulfil the right to social security without effective systems for identifying beneficiaries, maintaining payment records, auditing expenditure and investigating suspected irregularities.
The organisation also said failures in administering and verifying the programmes could result in discriminatory exclusion or unequal access to benefits, potentially undermining rights protected under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
SERAP said it had previously written to President Bola Tinubu and relevant authorities on September 5, urging them to account for the questioned funds, publish audit records, investigate irregular expenditure and recover any money found to have been unlawfully spent or diverted.
It also requested payment and beneficiary records, verification documents and explanations for missing REMITA records.
According to the organisation, the deadline given to the government to address the findings had expired without adequate action.
Beyond seeking an account of the funds, SERAP wants the court to direct the government to conduct an independent and effective investigation, take appropriate legal or administrative action against anyone found responsible, and strengthen financial oversight and beneficiary verification mechanisms.
It is also seeking measures to ensure that eligible households receive their intended benefits and that any established harm to their protected rights is remedied.
The organisation said the case was brought in the public interest to promote accountability for public funds and protect vulnerable Nigerians who depend on social protection programmes.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
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