‘How did you transfer N750bn to people without phones?’ — Atiku tackles APC chair

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has challenged the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, to explain how the Federal Government transferred money to more than 10 million Nigerians who, according to the APC chairman, do not have mobile phones.

Yilwatda had reportedly said the beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s N75,000 conditional cash transfer programme were largely poor and vulnerable Nigerians without phones, television sets or access to social media.

Reacting in his Independence Day address on Thursday, Atiku questioned how the beneficiaries were identified, contacted and paid, particularly in parts of Borno and Yobe affected by insecurity.

“Professor Yilwatda says many beneficiaries have no phones. So how did your government identify, contact and pay them, particularly in parts of Yobe and Borno where insecurity makes access difficult? Did officials deliver the money by hand? If so, who delivered it, and where are the receipts?

“If it went into bank accounts, show the transaction records. If you could find ten million people to pay, you can account for the payments,” he said.

Atiku’s challenge came as he criticised the economic policies of the Tinubu administration, alleging that the government had worsened the cost-of-living crisis over the past three years.

“The past three years under Bola Tinubu have plunged Nigeria into the most severe cost of living crisis in our history. Families are not merely tightening their belts. They are skipping meals, delaying treatment and borrowing to survive until payday,” he said.

He also questioned President Bola Tinubu’s declaration in his Independence Day address that the period of “emergency treatment” was over and that Nigeria had entered an “age of prosperity.”

“A president may announce a new chapter in a speech. He cannot put food onto a family’s table or money into a worker’s pocket,” Atiku said.

The former vice president’s remarks came amid renewed debate over the Federal Government’s cash transfer programme and the wider impact of its economic policies on Nigerians.