ormer Vice President Atiku Abubakar has questioned the explanation given by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Nentawe Yilwatda, over the Federal Government’s conditional cash transfer programme.
Yilwatda recently said more than 10 million vulnerable Nigerians who received ₦75,000 from the programme did not have telephones, television sets or access to social media. He said this was why beneficiaries were not publicly speaking about the intervention or defending the government online.
A statement circulating online and attributed to Atiku questioned how the money could have been transferred to beneficiaries who allegedly had no phones.
He was quoted as saying: “How did you transfer N750bn to people without phones?”
The figure of ₦750 billion comes from the ₦75,000 payment multiplied by the 10 million beneficiaries cited by Yilwatda. Atiku had previously questioned the Federal Government’s cash-transfer figures, noting that if 10 million households received the full ₦75,000 entitlement, the total would amount to about ₦750 billion, while the government had reported spending slightly more than ₦600 billion.
Atiku had also asked the government to provide verifiable records of the disbursements, including the number of households that received one, two or all three payment tranches, as well as failed or reversed transactions.
The latest comments have generated reactions online, with some Nigerians demanding greater transparency over the programme while others criticised Atiku and other opposition politicians.
X Reactions
@Agbanaborfs: Nigerians politicians are the luckiest politicians in the whole world . Imagine this man saying this as a politician in china without proper accountability, he will go down asap thru death by hanging
@SylveesterIfe: Atiku and Peter obi and other contestants should plan protests 🪧
@DeltabloodCR7: @NigeriaGov criminal lying government
@Ishaku__Audu: Definitely, Nigerians need clear answers. How were the beneficiaries identified, verified and paid, especially those without phones or digital access? Transparency on the process, records and safeguards matters.
@9jayardbird: Omo nah true oo
@Yung_maxter: Apc knw waiting them the do
@Shizzyforbez: APC propaganda
