The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued the Federal Government before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice over alleged diversion, irregular expenditure and failure to account for N78.8bn allocated to cash-transfer and social-protection programmes.

SERAP disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, identifying the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, the National Cash Transfer Office and the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office as the agencies involved in the allegations.

The allegations were documented in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2024 Annual Report, published on August 7, 2026, covering various periods between January 2023 and December 31, 2024.

SERAP is also seeking an order directing the government to provide a comprehensive account of the questioned funds, investigate the alleged irregularities, recover any money found to have been improperly spent or diverted, and strengthen financial oversight of social-protection programmes.

The suit, filed by SERAP’s lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare and Kehinde Oyewumi, stated that the government’s failure to investigate the allegations and recover any improperly spent funds breached its obligations to protect vulnerable households.

SERAP maintained that cash-transfer programmes could help reduce extreme poverty and enable vulnerable people to meet their basic needs, but stressed that effective implementation required proper beneficiary records, transparent disbursement procedures, expenditure monitoring and investigations into suspected financial irregularities.

The Auditor-General’s report reportedly questioned about N33.751bn said to have been transferred to more than 3.2 million households across 35 states in 2023, noting that adequate documentation to verify the payments and reconcile beneficiary records was not provided.