Atiku faults Tinubu over FG cash transfer programme

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has questioned the Federal Government's expanded cash-transfer programme, challenging the administration to explain the discrepancy between the number of households reached. Atiku's Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication stated that the government's earlier claim of reaching 15 million vulnerable households has been contradicted by a more recent figure of "slightly over 10 million households."

Atiku has demanded that the government publish detailed records of the payments, including verified beneficiary households, payment tranches, state-by-state distribution figures, failed transactions, reversals, and an independent audit. He criticized the government for focusing on expanding the number of people receiving palliatives rather than addressing the underlying cost pressures driving households into poverty.

Atiku accused the administration of worsening financial pressures on households through rising fuel, transport, food, and energy costs, and argued that their strategy of registering people as "vulnerable" and providing cash is not a solution to poverty but rather a way to manage the poor.